LEED Interpretation ID #2460 allows teams to exclude plastic trashcan liners that have a thickness of 0.7 mil or less. This Interpretation was approved for LEED v2008 projects, but has not been formally approved for LEED 2009 or v4 projects. However, the Interpretation likely remains applicable because the basis for it has not changed since it was approved for v2008, i.e., the nature of plastic trash liner manufacturing and the associated issues with recycled content and source reduction described in the Interpretation still apply today.

Project teams often forget to include hand soaps and hand sanitizers when documenting the credit. Also, it’s important to include janitorial paper products and trash bags here, and not under MRc1 Purchasing – ongoing.

For EAc2.1, M&V doesn’t necessarily refer to BAS systems or sub-metering, but your ongoing plan to implement the recommendations and strategies established by the audit and monitor performance, improvements and cost savings over time. Be sure to provide a detailed narrative that addresses this and don’t just refer to the content of the Cx plan and Cx report. Commonly, the measurement and verification program will involve a monthly review of utility invoices to determine if the anticipated savings are being realized.

There is no minimum number of capital improvement measures that must be identified by the audit. What is important is that project teams use the findings of their audit or commissioning to look forward and identify further opportunities, beyond the immediate low- or no-cost measures. This exercise helps to make the auditing or commissioning results relevant on an ongoing basis, and to understand what impact capital improvements might make, beyond their cost.

Yes, the ASHRAE Level II audit can be performed in-house. The auditor must have the skills necessary to perform the audit, but otherwise does not need to hold specific credentials or be a third party. Audits for LEED-EBOM projects are commonly conducted by a third-party auditor, commissioning agent, or building engineer. 

The expectation is that the audit methodology outlined in the ASHRAE document be used to guide the audit procedure and the approach to understanding building performance, energy use and opportunity for improvement. However, teams are not required to use the ASHRAE forms for reporting results.

Refer to the Reference Guide and the EAc2.1 credit form for checklists and outlines of documentation that is required for LEED documentation. Audit reports commonly are flagged for not including certain data required by the credit form, such as demand savings and maintenance cost savings.

The training program should be in place during the performance period, but there is no explicit requirement for how many hours must be provided during that time. LEEDuser recommends using it as an opportunity to bring staff and contractors up to speed on energy efficiency and sustainable operations at the building, and providing 24 hours of energy efficiency related training to each staff member each year.

All low and no cost measures must be implemented before the end of the performance period to earn this credit. If you’re running out of time, consider extending the length of the performance period for this credit, and for other credits as necessary, so that all prerequisites and credits end within the same 30-day window. By strategically selecting some credits to have a longer performance period, you may be able to avoid having to collect documentation for all data-intensive credits while still meeting the 30-day rule.

The definition of low-cost is up to you, and it’s fair game to include implementation costs in that assessment. If you have a lot of quick payback measures but not enough budget to implement them all, consider establishing a reasonable upper limit for the implementation cost, in addition to taking payback into account. For example, you could complete all low-cost measures that are $2,500 or less to implement. Remember that any low-cost measures that are not completed must be included in your capital improvement plan.

Teams are allowed to define what low-cost means to their project, and many use a combination of the payback period and implementation cost to determine a reasonable threshold. As a widely accepted rule of thumb, measures with a simple payback period of zero to 18 months are considered low-cost, and your team should be prepared to provide justification if the payback threshold is set below 18 months. See the Documentation Toolkit for an example table showing low-cost improvements.