LEED Canada CS 2009 - No Tenant Layouts

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Hi,

I'm preparing a model for an office building for LEED Canada CS 2009.
Modelling is with EE4 following NRCan rules with an MNECB reference
building. Base building includes rooftop units, baseboard perimeter heat,
core area with washrooms, electrical rooms, stairwells, elevators, etc. One
floor of the building has a ceiling in place with VAV boxes, diffusers and
lights laid out for an open office plan (as laid out in the lease). The
other two floors of the building have VAV boxes installed as base building
but the tenants will be responsible for installing lights or diffusers in
tenant fit-ups. Walls will probably be added and VAV boxes may need to
change at that point in time.

I had the owner put requirements in the lease for lighting power density and
lighting controls (Core Performance Guide) so I'll be claiming credit for
those. The problem I have is that there are no floor layouts indicating
open office areas, private offices, conference rooms, staff rooms, etc. so
I'm not sure what to use for reference building lighting power density and
plug loads in the leased tenant areas. My first thought for lighting was to
use the building area method for the reference building then use a mix of
actual installed lighting and Core Performance Guide lighting densities in
the proposed assuming all open office plans for the tenant fit-up areas.
Any comments would be appreciated.

As a side note, I don't see any requirement in Canada for 25% of energy
being process like there is in the US.

Thanks,

Aaron Smith, P.Eng

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Hi Aaron,

I also am unable to find a reference to the 25% process energy requirement.

For the tenant spaces with a lease agreement for the lighting power densities, I would use assumptions for space breakdowns, and then apply the lease agreement lighting power density reductions. I also suggest listing these assumptions in the modeling report (or narrative). To get an assumption of an office area breakdown, one way could be to build a quick eQUEST model of the office floor space, selecting "building type" as office in the wizard, then going into the detailed wizard to find the default space area breakdowns (80% office space, 5% washroom, 5% kitchen, etc). I am not sure what the eQUEST default area breakdowns are based on, but that info may be available somewhere in the eQUEST documentation.

Also suggest you check the recent LEED Canada 2009 Supplementary Energy Modeling Guidelines document, available on the CaGBC website, under "Programs => LEED => Rating Systems => Core and Shell.

Good luck!

Lilah Montague, B.Eng. EIT LEED(r) AP

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Aaron & Lilah,
In its LEED 2012 draft, the USGBC replaced the 25% default process energy piece with more generic statements to model unregulated loads accurately and to document the assumptions. GBCI reviewers have commented on specific internal load assumptions.
The ASHRAE 90.1 User's Manual, Title 24 NonRes ACM, and COMNET are also good sources for default internal loads. I believe the COMNET workbook even puts them side by side.

Paul Riemer, PE, LEED AP BD+C

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The COMNET workbook Paul mentioned; I have recently been taking a good look
at it, have others started to adopt it into a work process for their
offices?
The authors have done a good job of layout out the modeling process and
workflow.

Arpan

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