Good afternoon,
we are working on a multifamily project (registered as NC), by default all of the apartments have their own energy meter, but there is no single master energy meter to which the administration would have access to record and report the consumption of the whole building. One of the options that we are considering is to implement a private upstream energy meter that would capture the energy consumption of the whole building and that the administration would have access to for reporting, but due to cost and bureaucracy of implementation this option has gotten push back.
Is there any other way to comply with this prerequisite?
Or is there an exception for Multifamily buildings? Something that I noticed when reviewing the requirements from the Mid-Rise rating system for this prerequisite, is that for Multifamily the requirement is to encourage the homeowner or tenants to share the data by an education manual. Would this be valid for NC?
Thank you,
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
November 26, 2021 - 1:44 pm
I am unaware of any exceptions to this prerequisite.
Camilo Velez
PrincipalSimgea
21 thumbs up
November 28, 2021 - 12:15 pm
Hi Marcus,
I've been looking around since I originally posted this, and found this guide from USGBC:
https://www.usgbc.org/help/how-can-i-use-leed-v41-residential-multifamily-credit-substitutions-leed-v4-bdc-nc-and-leed-v4
The article states that if you have a v4 BD+C project (NC or CS) that is multifamily, you can substitute some credits (and prerequisites) for those in v4.1 Residential multifamily, and they show a table where they list what would be the equivalent substitutions. In the case of metering we would go from v4 NC EAp Building-Level Energy Metering to v4.1 Residential multifamily EAp Energy Metering which states (prerequisite link):
Install new or use existing energy meters that, in aggregate, measure all building energy consumption (electricity, natural gas, chilled water, steam, fuel oil, propane, biomass for shared systems, etc). Install an electricity meter for each residential unit. This meter need not be utility-owned/utility-grade. Single room–occupancy units, transitional and temporary housing, and designated supportive housing buildings do not need an electricity meter in each unit.
So, as long as we have energy meters for all energy consumption (and for each apartment) we would be complying with the prerequisite; now, if we were to get them to collect the data and commit to report it for 5 years to USGBC, we would get 1 point (credit link).
Have you or someone else used this approach?
Thank you,
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
November 30, 2021 - 10:24 am
It certainly does appear that LEED Residential circumvents the requirements of the prerequisite to report the whole building energy use. This was always the problem - there was no easy way to gather the whole building usage if you have to get many parties to report it or to even gather it from them. Without the reporting requirement it appears you have found a way around this requirement.
Camilo Velez
PrincipalSimgea
21 thumbs up
November 30, 2021 - 4:44 pm
Hi Marcus,
yeah, that's the same issue that we have been coming across, at least this way we can secure the prerequisite and there is the incentive of 1 additional point if they commit to gather and report the data to USGBC.
Thank you,
Blanca de la Fuente
Sustainability consultantAriatta Srl
1 thumbs up
March 28, 2023 - 9:49 am
Hi Camilo and Marcus,
Do you know if the credit substitution is still available? The link is not working.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
March 28, 2023 - 10:15 am
Yes this still applies. The prerequisite link still works even though the link to the question does not.
Blanca de la Fuente
Sustainability consultantAriatta Srl
1 thumbs up
March 28, 2023 - 11:20 am
Thanks for your prompt answer Marcus, then if I've a BD+C: NC I've to provide a narrative in the prerequisite explaining the substitution or should I do a formal request with my LEED coach?
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
March 29, 2023 - 10:20 am
Neither one. On the credit page in LEED Online, there are buttons on the right hand side of the screen with up-down arrows – just click on it, and it will automatically change out the form to the v4.1 form.
Blanca de la Fuente
Sustainability consultantAriatta Srl
1 thumbs up
March 30, 2023 - 3:51 am
Hi Marcus,
On the LEED online you're able to change from v4 to v4.1; but we need to change from LEED BD+C: New Construction Building-level energy metering to LEED Residential - Multifamily: Energy Metering. Following the situation that Camilo pointed out of the impossibility to share consumptions of each apartment due to privacy.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
March 30, 2023 - 9:33 am
If you can't do it yourself then you do should reach out to GBCI to make the change in LEED Online. If that doesn't work then you can always submit a narrative to explain the switch.