[Bldg-sim] Ventilation rate baseline in a major renovation

[Anne C. Juran]

My experience has been that the ventilation rates do have to match between
models when it comes to LEED.

 

The rule is a bit short-sighted because, in reality, there are potentials
for energy savings from reduced OA just based on system type. For example, a
DOAS will have lower total OA than a typical VAV system. My initial
submission of a project using this argument was rejected, though, because
the OA values did not match between the two models.

 

 

From: bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org
[mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of Jason Kirchhoff
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 7:13 PM
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: [Bldg-sim] Ventilation rate baseline in a major renovation

 

I'm working on a project that involves an expansion and a major renovation
of an existing building. My question relates to LEED modeling of the
existing building under LEED-NC.

The issue is that the existing building is significantly over-ventilated. My
team is involved in an energy retrofit of the existing structure and intends
to bring the OA rate down significantly. However because of the equal vent
rate requirement in Appendix-G, it seems like this won't lead to any energy
credit. As I understand it, no matter what we drop the vent rate to (or even
if we raised it), the proposed building will have to match and the
ventilation improvement will go unrecognized.

In case that's not clear, say the current building has 10,000 cfm of OA, but
we're going to drop that to 5,000 cfm with the new design.  This leads to
significant heating and cooling savings. Can the baseline have 10,000 cfm
because it's an existing building, or must it match under all circumstances?

Thanks,



Jason Kirchhoff

Technical Director

Energize Analytics

www.energizeanalytics.com

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