There is a debate going on in my office currently, regarding existing
buildings and their envelopes and what is required for EA Prerequisite
2.

The LEED 2009-NC Guide says:

"To achieve points using this credit, the proposed design must meet the
following criteria:

-Comply with the mandatory provisions (Sections 5.4, 6.4, 7.4, 8.4, 9.4
and 10.4) in Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda).

-Inclusion of all the energy costs within and associated with the
building project.

-Compare against a baseline building that complies with Appendix G......
(we all know about that part).

What's got the debate going is that part about Complying with the
mandatory provisions (particularly Section 5.4). Now, we do a lot of
existing buildings, wherein no insulation is added. I know that, when
creating the energy model, that when modeling existing buildings, or
portions of existing buildings, where no alterations are being made,
that both the Proposed and Baseline building are modeled with the
as-existing construction. However, it was brought up that, as the LEED
Guide specifically calls out Section 5.4 (which I've been unable to find
any mention of existing buildings), was intentional, to for any would-be
LEED projects to bring their existing envelope constructions up to
Section 5.4 requirements. I've looked over the CIRs and didn't find
anything really telling.

Does anyone have any insights or suggestions?

Thanks!

Martin Snarski LEED(r) AP