Rack Up More LEED v3 Rating Points with E-Mon D-Mon Submeters!
Released in April 2009, LEED version 3 (v3), also called LEED 2009, poses increasingly stringent requirements compared to previous revisions, including a 10 percent reduction versus ASHRAE 90.1-2007 for new buildings, as well as an Energy Star performance rating of at least 69 for existing facilities. The backbone of the measurement and verification (M & V) process required for LEED certification at every level is the electric submeter.
The primary building performance category in which submetering plays a key role is the Energy & Atmosphere (EA) subset that runs through most, if not all, major assessment categories, including Commercial Interiors (CI), Existing Buildings-Operations & Maintenance (EBOM), New Construction (NC) and others. Other submeter-enabled performance criteria include Fundamental Commissioning, Optimize Energy Performance, Green Power and Regional Priority.
E-Mon, manufacturer of the widely installed E-Mon D-Mon product family, can assist you in all of these areas, as the following LEED v3 Certification Point Charts by category illustrate:
| LEED 2009 Commercial Interiors (CI) Submetering Points Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Section Title & Credit |
Credit Description |
Points |
Credit Intent |
| Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Prerequisite 1 |
Fundamental Commissioning of Building System |
0 |
Verify project's energy-related systems are installed and calibrated according to project documentation. |
| EA Prerequisite 2 | Minimum Energy Performance | 0 |
Establish minimum energy-efficiency level for tenant space systems to reduce economic impact of higher energy use on environment. |
| EA Credit 2 | Enhanced Commissioning | Up to 5 |
Verify and ensure that the tenant space is designed, constructed and calibrated to operate as intended. |
| EA Credit 3 | Measurement and Verification (M & V) | Up to 5 |
Provide for on-going accountability of building energy consumption over time. |
| EA Credit 4 | Green Power | Up to 5* |
Encourage development and use of grid-based renewable energy sources on a net zero pollution basis. |
| Regional Priority Credit 1 | Regional Priority | Up to 4 |
Provide an incentive for achieving credits that address geographically specific environmental priorities |
| * Up to 2 in LEED for Retail system | |||
| LEED 2009 Core & Shell (CS) Submetering Points Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Section Title & Credit |
Credit Description |
Points |
Credit Intent |
| Sustainable Sites Credit 9 | Tenant Design & Construction Guidelines | 1 |
Educate tenants about using sustainable design and construction features in tenant improvement build-outs. |
| EA Prerequisite 1 | Fundamental Commissioning of Building System | 0 |
Verify project's energy-related systems are installed and calibrated according to project documentation. |
| EA Credit 3 | Enhanced Commissioning | Up to 2 |
Begin commissioning process early in design phase, execute additional activities after performance verification is complete. |
| EA Credit 5.1 | Measurement & Verification-Base Building | Up to 3 |
Provide for on-going accountability of building energy consumption over time. |
| EA Credit 5.2 | Measurement & Verification-Tenant Submetering | Up to 3 |
Provide for on-going accountability of building energy consumption over time. |
| Regional Priority Credit 1 | Regional Priority | Up to 4 |
Provide an incentive for achieving credits that address geographically specific environmental priorities. |
| LEED 2009 Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance (EBOM) Submetering Points Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Section Title & Credit |
Credit Description |
Points |
Credit Intent |
| Water Efficiency (WE) Credit 1 | Water Performance Measurement | Up to 2 |
Measure building and subsystem water performance over time to identify consumption patterns and additional water saving opportunities. |
| WE Credit 3 | Water-Efficiency Landscaping | Up to 5 |
Limit or eliminate irrigation use of potable water or other natural surface/sub-surface resources on or near the project site. |
| WE Credit 4 | Cooling Tower Water Management | Up to 2 |
Reduce potable water consumption for cooling tower equipment through effective water management or use of potable makeup water. |
| Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Prerequisite 2 | Minimum Energy Efficiency Performance | 0 |
Establish minimum energy-efficiency performance level relative to similar-type buildings to reduce economic impact of higher energy use on environment. |
| EA Credit 1 | Optimize Energy Efficiency Performance | Up to 18 |
Achieve higher energy-efficiency levels relative to similar-type buildings to reduce economic impact of higher energy use on environment. |
| EA Credit 2.1 | EB Commissioning: Investigation & Analysis | Up to 2 |
Develop processes to (a) understand the building's major energy-using systems, (b) optimize energy performance and (c) achieve energy savings. |
| EA Credit 2.3 | EB commissioning: On-going commissioning | Up to 2 |
Address changes in facility occupancy, use, maintenance and repair by periodically adjusting/reviewing operating systems and procedures to optimize energy efficiency and provide services. |
| EA Credit 3.2 | Performance Measurement: System-Level Monitoring | Up to 2 |
Provide accurate consumption data to support energy management and identify opportunities for additional energy saving improvements. |
| Ea Credit 4 | Onsite & Offsite Renewable Energy | Up to 6 |
Encourage development and use of renewable energy sources to reduce environmental and economic impacts of fossil fuel energy use. |
| Regional Priority Credit 1 | Regional Priority | Up to 4 |
Provide an incentive for achieving credits that address geographically specific environmental priorities. |
| LEED 2009 New Construction & Major Renovations (NC) Points Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Section Title & Credit |
Credit Description |
Points |
Credit Intent |
| Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Prerequisite 1 | Fundamental Commissioning of Building System | 0 |
Verify project's energy-related systems are installed and calibrated according to project documentation. |
| EA Prerequisite 2 | Minimum Energy Performance | 0 |
Establish building's minimum energy-efficiency level. |
| EA Credit 1 | Optimize Energy Performance | Up to 19 |
Achieve higher energy efficiency levels to reduce economic impact of higher energy use on environment. |
| EA Credit 2 | On-site Renewable Energy | Up to 7 |
Recognize increased levels of self-supplied on-site energy production reducing impacts of fossil fuel use. |
| EA Credit 3 | Enhanced Commissioning | Up to 2 |
Begin commissioning process early in design phase, execute additional activities after performance verification is complete. |
| EA Credit 5 | Measurement & Verification (M & V) | Up to 3* |
Provide for on-going accountability of building energy consumption over time. |
| EA Credit 6 | Green Power | Up to 2 |
Encourage development and use of grid-provided renewable energy sources on a net zero pollution basis. |
| Regional Priority Credit 1 | Regional Priority | Up to 4 |
Provide an incentive for achieving credits that address geographically specific environmental priorities. |
| * Up to 2 in LEED for Schools system | |||
| LEED for Schools 2009 Submetering Points chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Section Title & Credit |
Credit Description |
Points |
Credit Intent |
| Energy & Atmosphere (EA) Prerequisite 1 | Fundamental Commissioning of | 0 |
Verify project's energy-related systems are installed and calibrated according to project documentation. |
| EA Prerequisite 2 | Minimum Energy Performance | 0 |
Establish building's minimum energy-efficiency level. |
| EA Credit 1 | Optimize Energy Performance | Up to 19 |
Achieve higher energy-efficiency levels to reduce economic impact of higher energy use on environment. |
| EA Credit 2 | On-site Renewable Energy | Up to 7 |
Recognize increased levels of self-supplied on-site energy production reducing impacts of fossil fuel use. |
| EA Credit 3 | Enhanced Commissioning | Up to 2 |
Begin commissioning process early in design phase, execute additional activities after performance verification is complete. |
| EA Credit 5 | Measurement & Verification (M & V) | Up to 2 |
Provide for on-going accountability of building energy consumption over time. |
| EA Credit 6 | Green Power | Up to 2 |
Encourage development and use of grid-provided renewable energy sources on a net zero pollution basis. |
| Regional Priority Credit 1 | Regional Priority | Up to 4 |
Provide an incentive for achieving credits that address geographically specific environmental priorities. |
Key Role of Submeters in the facility "Greening" Process
E-Mon responded to the "green challenge" by developing advanced hardware and software tools that specifically address the M & V needs of LEED v3 and other green building energy initiatives. Certified to ANSI C12.1 & C12.16 national accuracy standards, advanced E-Mon D-Mon submeters offer a number of important functions for new construction or retrofit applications, including:
• Scrolling LCD display of kilowatt hour (kWh) usage
• kWh in dollars
• Current demand load (kW)
• Cost per hour, based on current load
• Estimated CO2 emissions based on current load
• Net metering, including utility-delivered vs. user-received power and net usage
• Compatibility with BACnet, Modbus, Ethernet, RF and other popular building automation system communications
• Compatibility with pulse-output utility meters, including water, gas, BTU, steam, etc.
View Your Real-Time Energy Parameters via the Internet
In conjunction with the energy data acquisition function, newly introduced energy display tools like Web-Mon are especially useful for compiling and displaying the historical energy records required for certification under LEED and other building performance assessment initiatives. Web-Mon provides a user-friendly web interface for viewing live energy data, charts and graphs via any standard internet browser-without costly custom programming. A built-in website right out of the box, Web-Mon provides a "dashboard" energy display of up to 24 inputs from electric, water, gas, steam, BTU or other meters. Real-time data is displayed alongside historic readings from the previous seven, 30 and 365 days.
Entering Web-Mon's IP address into a standard internet browser brings up pre-configured graphical screen templates showing kWh, kW, power factor, Volts, Amps by phase, VARs and more. A "carbon footprint dashboard" provides a one-page snapshot of any metered device or circuit in terms of CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions-while automatically displaying estimated forest re-growth needed to compensate for the displayed levels.
Bottom Line
The type of energy data needed by today's sophisticated facility is beyond the capability of the master utility meter to provide. As first-level data gathering tools in the facility load-profiling process, submeters provide high-accuracy, 15- or 30-minute snapshots of energy use (kWh) and demand (kW)-at the enterprise level all the way down to a specific circuit or item of equipment. Submeters are an easily installed, versatile and scalable solution for obtaining the degree of energy intelligence granularity needed to optimize today's facility operations-no matter what type of facility is being monitored.
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