[Equest-users] Lighting Controls for LEED

Jeremy Poling Jeremy.Poling at transwestern.net
Wed Mar 23 09:34:09 PDT 2011


I have seen the reviewers request documentation verifying that automatic lighting controls were NOT included in the baseline model.

 

Very specifically, Table G3.1(6) for the baseline states:

 

“Lighting power in the baseline building design shall be determined using the same categorization procedure (building area or space function) and categories as the proposed design with lighting power set equal to the maximum allowed for the corresponding method and category in Section 9.2.  No automatic lighting controls (e.g. programmable controls or automatic controls for daylight utilization) shall be modeled in the baseline building design, as the lighting schedules used are understood to reflect the mandatory control requirements of this standard.”

 

The language there is pretty clear: shall = mandatory, therefore, no automatic controls are to be included in the baseline model (understanding that the lighting schedules already account for the mandatory provisions).  So I’m not certain if your reviewer accidently asked for the controls to be in the baseline when they meant to ask for you to verify that they weren’t.  

 

Either way, just remember that not every change to the model requested by a reviewer will necessarily be legitimate.  The amount of information required for submittal is such a small portion of the knowledge that went into the design of the building and the construction of the model, so rarely will the reviewer have as detailed of a view of the design as you the modeler should have.  In addition, they only get 25 business days (including QA time) to review something that may have taken you at least two or more times that amount of time, so they realistically may not have enough time to catch EVERY detail and nuance to the project.  If you have a strong reason for running the model with certain parameters and can backup that decision with design documents and specific sections of the code, that is an acceptable response to a review comment.  

 

Jeremy R. Poling, PE, LEED AP+BDC



 

From: MatthewRLarson at Eaton.com [mailto:MatthewRLarson at Eaton.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 11:09 AM
To: Jeremy Poling; grammy.hkust at gmail.com
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: RE: [Equest-users] Lighting Controls for LEED

 

For clarification, we have gotten comments from GBCI requiring us to include automatically controlled lighting systems in the mandated spaces per Section 9.4.1 in the baseline model so we have applied the adjustments in the baseline to those required spaces.  I would think you could just not use the adjustment credit in the baseline or proposed (even if there are occ sensors in the proposed) for spaces that are mandated so no credit is taken for having those occupancy sensors.  It seems like Jeremy is referring to the latter method of not giving credit to the mandated spaces in either model.  It seems that the point of the comment is to ensure the project doesn’t get credit for occupancy sensors in spaces where it is mandated under 9.4.1 so either way should work. W e have had no problems just applying the credit to the baseline and proposed for mandated spaces.  However Jeremy’s method seems to line up with the Table G3.1(6) statement better.  This could just be another case of review comment inconsistencies.

 

Thanks,

 

Matthew Larson, LEED AP BD+C
Project Engineer

Energy Solutions Group

E M C Engineers, Inc.
Eaton’s Electrical Services & Systems 
143 Union Blvd, Suite 350
Lakewood, CO 80228
tel: +1 303 328-3419
mobile: +1 303 668-2511
fax: +1 303 974-1239

MatthewRLarson at Eaton.com 
www.eaton.com/energysolutions  

 

 

From: Jeremy Poling [mailto:Jeremy.Poling at transwestern.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 8:19 AM
To: Grammy; Larson, Matthew R
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: RE: [Equest-users] Lighting Controls for LEED

 

Just a note: the adjustment in Table G3.2 does NOT apply to spaces mandated to have those controls under 9.4.1 – it only applies to spaces where these controls are optional.  Table G3.1(6) says:

 

“g. For automatic lighting controls in addition to those required for minimum code compliance under Section 9.4.1, credit may be taken for automatically controlled systems by reducing the connected lighting power by the applicable percentages listed in Table G3.2.  Alternatively, credit may be taken for these devices by modifying the lighting schedules used for the proposed design, provided that credible technical documentation for the modifications are provided to the rating authority.”

 

(italics as used in the referenced standard)

 

There is quite a bit of discussion on Table G3.2 in the list archives that you can browse.  You can adjust the LPD in your proposed model (not baseline – baseline does not include the controls) or instead you can explain to the reviewers the methodology you used to determine the occupancy schedule and why it is appropriate that the lighting schedule mirror the occupancy schedule for rooms with controls.  No need to run the model if you have the evidence to support your method and your method is allowed by Appendix G, which it clearly is in Table G3.1(6)(g).

 

Your review comment does bring up an interesting point: the language in the standard is not absolute.  Appendix G does not explicitly state that you are required to take credit for occupancy controls and therefore include them in the model, it only states that you MAY take credit for them.  The model is more conservative if credit is not taken for occupancy controls.  If you have much less than a clear picture of how the occupants are going to use the building you should weigh the uncertainty of the occupancy inputs against the energy reduction achieved by including the controls in the model.  You may determine that it is not appropriate to include occupancy control savings in the model and the language in the standard would support that decision.

 

Jeremy R. Poling, PE, LEED AP+BDC

 

From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Grammy
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 12:13 AM
To: MatthewRLarson at eaton.com
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] Lighting Controls for LEED

 

Reducing the lighting power density is a easy for you and acceptable for USGBC way.

On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 9:43 PM, <MatthewRLarson at eaton.com> wrote:

Michael,

 

There are a couple different ways to account for occupancy sensors for LEED but you need to follow Appendix G Table G3.2 of ASHRAE 90.1.  

 

 

 

Basically you’re allowed to reduce the lighting by the percentage listed in the above table, 10% for most buildings.  You can do this by either reducing the lighting power input for the spaces by 10% under the Internal Loads tab or create a lighting occupancy sensor schedule that has hourly fractions that are 10% less than your regular lighting schedule.  You also need to make sure that you apply this lighting credit to any spaces that are required by minimum code to have automatic lighting controls specified under Section 9.4.1.  Table G3.1 Number 6 has a good explanation of this process for the baseline and proposed building.

 

Thanks,

 

Matthew Larson, LEED AP BD+C
Project Engineer

Energy Solutions Group

E M C Engineers, Inc.
Eaton’s Electrical Services & Systems 
143 Union Blvd, Suite 350
Lakewood, CO 80228
tel: +1 303 328-3419
mobile: +1 303 668-2511
fax: +1 303 974-1239

MatthewRLarson at Eaton.com 
www.eaton.com/energysolutions  



 

From: equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org [mailto:equest-users-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of M. Shields
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 6:24 AM
To: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Equest-users] Lighting Controls for LEED

 

Hi All,

 

I just got back comments on my models for a LEED project and the reviewer commented that I needed to account for occupancy sensors.  I had done this by switching the lighting schedule to the occupancy schedule in rooms with occupancy sensors, does anyone know if this is an appropriate way to model occupancy sensors?  Is there a tool built into equest that allows you to account for them a different way?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

____________________________
Michael Shields
Facility Strategies Group, LLC

1012 Market Street, Suite 307

Fort Mill, SC 29708

Phone: 803-493-4507

Fax: 803-548-2511
Email: mshields at fstrategies.com

 


_______________________________________________
Equest-users mailing list
http://lists.onebuilding.org/listinfo.cgi/equest-users-onebuilding.org
To unsubscribe from this mailing list send  a blank message to EQUEST-USERS-UNSUBSCRIBE at ONEBUILDING.ORG

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.onebuilding.org/pipermail/equest-users-onebuilding.org/attachments/20110323/4bc29ddb/attachment-0002.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 39998 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.onebuilding.org/pipermail/equest-users-onebuilding.org/attachments/20110323/4bc29ddb/attachment-0004.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 14987 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://lists.onebuilding.org/pipermail/equest-users-onebuilding.org/attachments/20110323/4bc29ddb/attachment-0005.jpeg>


More information about the Equest-users mailing list