This project is a commercial office building located in New York City on a uniquely shaped parcel of land. The building is located on an asymmetrical triangular shaped lot of 5,549 sq. ft. While the building is six stories tall, the total square footage of the building is only 34,300 sq. ft. This type of building is quite unique to dense urban areas in making the most of a small lot. Due to the fact that this building is unique in terms of its height in comparison as compared to its sq footage, this CIR is asking if an allowance can be made to use a more comparable baseline per ASHRAE 90.1-2004 in the energy model. The following are the baseline building types outlined in ASHRAE 90.1-2004 for selection of Baseline HVAC System Types: - Residential - Nonresidential & 3 floors or Less & < 75,000 sq. f.t or 5 Floors or Less & 75,000 sq. ft. to 150,000 sq. ft. - Nonresidential & More than 5 Floors or >150,000 sq. ft. Per these requirements this small 34,300 sq. ft. building would be using the same baseline system descriptions as significantly larger facilities. We are proposing that because of this discrepancy that the third option of Nonresidential & 4 or 5 Floors & < 75,000 sq. f.t or 5 Floors or Less & 75,000 sq. ft. to 150,000 sq. ft. be a viable baseline for the project to use in the energy model. The systems that differ between the two baselines are as follows: Nonresidential & 4 or 5 Floors & < 75,000 sq. ft. - System 5 Packaged VAV w/ Reheat OR System 6 - Packaged VAV w/ PFP Boxes Nonresidential & More than 5 Floors or >150,000 sq. ft. - System 7 VAV w/ Reheat OR System 8 - VAV w/ PFP Boxes.
The applicant requests an exception to ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Appendix G modeling methodology that would allow the project to model a Baseline HVAC system type that more closely reflects the system type used for similarly-sized buildings. While the project\'s efficient use of land is commendable, the CIR process cannot be used to grant exceptions from ASHRAE modeling requirements. The project team must model the building using the applicable system type determined from the system mapping in Table G3.1.1A. Since the project is less than 100,000 square feet, the project team may opt to document credit compliance using the Option 3 prescriptive compliance path (the Advanced Buildings Core Performance Guide) rather than the Option 1 Whole Building Simulation compliance path. However, if the whole building simulation compliance path is selected, the project must follow all applicable ASHRAE Appendix G modeling protocol. Applicable Internationally.