Minimum Energy Performance Prerequisite

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Author Message leothebuilder (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Friday, February 05, 2010 - 12:05 pm:    Our project is a 17,000 s.f. office space tenant improvement in an existing building built in approx. 1980. We want to achieve "certified" level under Commerical Interiors 2009 Our M&E consultant is pushing towards "energy modelling" at a cost of about 10 or 15 thousand dollars. I don't have a lot of experience with this prerequisite but when I read the requirements it seems to me that if the project is designed per ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1-2007 using the mandatory and presciptive requirements, energy modelling is not really required. Maybe modelling is an easier or better method, but for such a T.I. project with a total cost of around $600,000 adding modelling at 10 or 15 thousand dollars seems overkill. Any experts out here reading this, I would welcome your perspective. Thanks. Leo J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 393 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Monday, February 08, 2010 - 12:53 pm:    There may be some advantages to modeling. The prescriptive method may require actually set a higher standard to meet requirements than would be indicated by a model. In other words, you may find project costs for meeting the prescriptive requirements 10 to 15 thousand dollars higher than they would be if the project were modeled. Ideally, the performance based on meeting perscriptive requirements would be better, but not necessarily optimal if measuring construction cost against operating costs. It could boil down to writing a check to a consultant to find out something may not be needed or writing a check for something that may not be needed but goes into the building anyway. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, LEED-AP, MAI, RLA Senior Member Username: tsugaguy Post Number: 237 Registered: 06-2005 Posted on Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 02:55 pm:    Depending on the climate the project is located in and the level of the Owner's energy saving goals, I would agree that modeling might in certain cases be able to save more than it costs. Modeling might also offer the Owner a wider range of options, for example glazing with higher visible light transmittance than the prescriptive method might allow in the south. However, with a small commercial project, especially an interior one, it seems a lot less likely that the Owner would want to pursue that path. Brian E. Trimble, CDT Senior Member Username: brian_e_trimble_cdt Post Number: 25 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 - 05:46 pm:    There are smaller scale energy modeling programs out there, but they are not necessarily recognized by LEED. One great program for smaller projects is Energy 10. While it was developed for projects under 10,000 sf., it can work with larger structures that have only one or two zones. You can access more information on Energy 10 at www.sbicouncil.org.