Hello eQuest Users!
I realize that this is an eQuest users forum and not necessarily a LEED help forum but from reading past posts it sound like many of you have quite a few LEED projects under your belts and I could really use some advice/help. I just received my first EAc1 LEED review back and there are 16 comments. Is that normal? I want to make sure that I understand how eQuest is working for a few of these comments so that I can answer them completely and correctly.
so here are my review comment/questions:
1. "The Proposed windows were modeled with a U-value of 0.29, which does not appear to account for the impact of the window frames on the whole assembly as required by ASHRAE modeling protocol."
* The U-Value of 0.29 is indeed the center of glass U-Value however I included frame conductance and frame width in the model.
* Is that enough to account for the "whole assembly" U-Value?
* or do I need to find a published whole assembly U-Value for the specified window?
* If I do need the whole assembly U-Value, then should I remove the frame information from the model?
2. "Please confirm that the energy consumption attributed to "Area Lights" on Table 1.8.1 and 1.8.2 represents internal lighting energy consumption and demand or provide a narrative describing any alternative uses."
* the area lights information came from the "Ambient Lights" column of the Annual Enduse Summary... so I would say yes, it represents the lighting energy consumption and demand. Right?
3. "Please provide a narrative to describe the end use for the modeled "Pumps & Auxiliary" as shown on Table 1.8.1 and 1.8.2"
* I have not been able to figure out exactly what is contributing to this load (besides the pumps of course). What, according to eQuest, is considered "Auxiliary"?
I think that is it for now... I'm sure as I start making adjustments that I will have additional questions. (The building runs off of a central chiller plant so I've used the "Required Treatment of District Thermal Energy in LEED-NC version 2.2" document as a guideline and haven't quite wrapped my head around the comments related to that)
I know that one of the first things you might ask is to see my .inp and .pd2 files... unfortunately it is for a confidential client and I am unable to share that information.
One more quick thing... Although I do not regularly contribute to the forum I try to read all of the threads as they come through (admittedly, I'm a little behind right now). It is comforting to know that I am not the only one having issues with energy modeling and eQuest. It is also comforting knowing that I can ask you questions and I don't have to bang my head against a wall trying to figure it all out on my own! so, thanks in advance for the help!!!!
Heather Hardie-Hill
1.? for windows, use the manufacturers data for the assembly.? If it is not available, follow the reccomendations of ASHRAE on fenestration.? I think it is in the fundamentals book, but not positive.
2.? I think the reviewer is trying to get you to differentiate between internal lighting and site lighting. You will need to explain,
3.? Auxillary is what you define.? HVAC pumps are part of cooling, fountain, hot water, etc.? are auxillary.? You must differentiate the two in the model and in your reporting.
I think this will cover you.? Good luck
Heather,
I hope your first EAc1 review doesn't discourage you and I understand
reaching out for guidance.
1. It sounds like you did indeed model frames so I would just
provide the additional information on the conductance of the frames and
build a Window5 model to determine the assembly U-value and include both
for the reviewer.
2. While not the strangest comment I've seen the GBCI, it is up
there for random and your response seems okay. However, is the
percentage of lighting end-use energy extremely high for the project or
is there another reason they state for making this comment? Just be
thorough in your response.
3. Pumps and auxiliary energy includes at least three things:
pumps, furnace pilot lights, and internal energy sources defined as a
space load that use electricity or natural gas. Without seeing your inp
files, hard to say though.
Good luck. It is hard to provide much more help without knowing more
about the project but hopefully this will get you started.
Sam Mason
If you have any DX units and have allowed crankcase heating (which is a
checkbox in the DD wizard if you used the wizard to set up HVAC equipment
initially), that will show up as aux. energy.
16 comments is not too unusual - I've seen even more on a few projects.
One comment based on your email and I apologize if I'm reading into it,
but it appears that you may have changed the names of energy end-uses
along the left-hand side of Tables 1.8.1 and 1.8.2 to match the eQuest
output (just based on the things they are asking you to confirm). One
thing I have found that avoids some of the general "confirm this"
questions is to avoid changing defaults that are setup in the templates.
Instead, if there is something that is different or unusual, use the
special circumstances narrative to explain the difference or why a
default was changed.
I got the impression that review teams have some sort of basic script
that they must review on the models as a minimum - this based on three
completely different projects going to three different review teams and
all of those projects receiving a comment with the same wording asking
us to "explain the Heat Rejection end use as this project does not
appear to include a cooling tower." My basic lesson from that
experience is to try to avoid changing defaults unless necessary (i.e.
flow rates for plumbing fixtures must be changed in some cases to match
manufacturer literature) and always explain why something was changed in
the special circumstances narrative. It helps tame down the comments
some! Good luck with the review!
JEREMY R. POLING, PE, LEED AP
Sam & Heather,
Just a comment on #1, but according to ASHRAE 90.1-2004 section 5.8.2.4
(section 5.4.2, a mandatory provision, refers you to this section) the
U-factor of all fenestration shall be determined either by NFRC 100 or for
vertical fenestration taken from table A8.2.
NFRC testing is essentially a requirement of ASHRAE 90.1-2004. It is not
enough to take a center of glass value and add some framing to it, letting
eQUEST calculate your assembly U-value.
Robby Oylear, LEEDR AP
For a few of our firms LEED models, we tabulated the lighting values for the
baseline and the changes made for the proposed model when they were asking
for more information. In my experience, provide as much supporting
documentation in the form of tables and lists as possible to eliminate any
confusion with their template.
-Rob Hudson
They also like screen shots that confirm your input values used. Pretty
pictures always speak louder than words...
pkg