We are working on a series of three projects on a campus. The three projects consist of a dormitory, an office building and a central chilled water plant that provides chilled water to various campus buildings, including the new dormitory and office buildings. Each of these three buildings is pursuing LEED separately. We assume that an average cost to produce chilled water will be calculated for the central plant on a dollars per ton-hour basis. In order to perform the EA credit 1 ECB calculations for the dormitory and office building that are pursuing LEED this cost per ton-hour will be applied to the total ton-hours of cooling needed according to the energy model (same cost for both the proposed and baseline building). The question relates to the central plant building. Since under LEED-NCv2.2 the EA credit 1 analysis requires examination of the total building energy use (both regulated and process loads) should the electricity used to create chilled water for the buildings other than the central plant be accounted for in the EA credit 1 calculation for the central plant building?
No. Although the language in ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1-2004 may suggest including the entire chiller capacity as a process load when modeling the plant building, such an interpretation is ambiguous and in any case that method is inappropriate for LEED purposes. When calculating process energy use for a central chiller plant building\'s energy model, include only the percentage of the chiller plant capacity that is consumed within the central plant building itself. Applicable Internationally.