I did some searching in the bldg-sim archives, and although I swear I saw
some discussion on this before, I wasn't able to find much, so sorry if
this is a repeat thread.

Let's just skip the whole approved modeling program discussion, because I
feel that has been beat to death already. What I want to know is:

1) For the IRS EPACT 2005, which of course has been extended and
slightly modified recently, have any of you routinely been applying for
(and earning) tax credits for your clients? It is a lot of work to tweak
my existing models to the proper baselines, schedules, etc, and the few
projects I've looked at haven't even partially qualified. It seems
straight forward, but I'm not sure I've ever even talked to anyone who has
worked an application all the way through. Any major pitfalls to be aware
of?

2) There is also the whole Interim Lighting Rule, which allows for
partial qualification if you reduce lighting power density to 25% below
ASHRAE 90.1-2001 prescribed levels (no model required according to the
EPACT amendments from Notice 2008-40). The current Seattle Energy Code
prescribes LPDs that are better than or equal to 90.1-2004, which is in
turn is about 20-30% (depending on the space type) more stringent than
90.1-2001. Have I just been missing the boat by not telling every client
that they should be right around that magic 25% reduction compared to
90.1-2001 and thus qualify for up to $0.60/sf tax credit. Again, I feel
like news of this would already be flying around town if everybody
automatically qualified, so what am I missing?

Any thoughts, experiences, or comments?

Nathan Miller, PE, LEEDR AP