For a major renovation to an existing office building, where a data center will be relocated from the existing space to the new space and provided with a dedicated electrical and HVAC system, is it possible to remove the data center from the energy simulation, similar to the exclusion permitted in EBOM EAc1?
The data center can be excluded provided that it has a dedicated HVAC system, all utilities are separately metered, all common surfaces between the data center and office space are treated with additional insulation, and the employees of the data center are excluded from FTE counts. Everything within the LEED Project Boundary must be included in the energy model.
**Update October 1, 2013: Exclusion of any part of the project building, no matter how it is separated, is not acceptable. Everything within the LEED Project Boundary must be included in the energy model.