Schematic Design

At a minimum, provide individual controls for 90% of occupants.

Begin to lay out the lighting design, individual controls, and control systems. Typically, ambient lighting does not provide all occupants with adequate control. To provide control, design task lighting in addition to ambient lighting. 

Involve the facilities manager, operations personnel or procurement staff in conversations about energy-efficient equipment. They should be able to provide a list of specified and existing equipment to help with your calculations. 

Most Energy Star office computers and equipment carry little or no cost premium, and bring operational cost savings. 

If used equipment was labeled Energy Star at the time it was purchased, but is not in the current list anymore, it can be listed as an Energy Star product. However, all new products purchased at the time of construction should be Energy Star labeled. 

In most product categories there is a wide range of Energy Star labeled products to choose from. Energy Star sets a minimum performance level, but some options are more efficient than others. As much as possible, choose the most efficient equipment. If doing that means getting equipment with a lower power rating, use the power rating from the LEED Reference Guide or from older equipment you are replacing to avoid being penalized in the credit calculation.

Performing your calculations early on will tell you if the project owner needs to specify more Energy Star labeled equipment for the new spaces. 

Identify and prioritize the equipment with the highest rated power, because those are the items that will help you most. Your credit calculations will be based on the rated power of the equipment, not the number of individual Energy Star labeled machines. For example, the rated power of a copier is much higher than a laptop. If you buy only one of each, an Energy Star labeled copier will contribute more to the overall Energy Star labeled power percentage. 

If an Energy Star product is purchased as a replacement for older, less efficient equipment, you can assign it the higher rated power of the original product for the purposes of your calculation. Doing that gives these replacement products more weight in the calculations. The replacement must be purchased between project registration and when the project is submitted for certification. 

Sum the two columns and calculate the percentage of rated power that comes from Energy Star labeled equipment. It has to be at least 50% of total project equipment rated power to achieve the prerequisite, and 70%, 77%, 84%, and 90% for 1-4 points.