LEED® +
District Energy
LEED 2012:
Big changes ahead for
district energy
Tim Griffin, PE, LEED AP, IDEA USGBC Liaison
Editor’s Note: “LEED® + District Energy”
is a quarterly column providing information about the U.S. Green Building
Council’s LEED® rating system and how
it applies to buildings served by district
energy systems.
will continue issuing updates on a regular
cycle as part of this evolution.
It seems like just yesterday the latest version of the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
rating system, LEED 2009, was released.
Now, the U.S. Green Building Council
(USGBC) is preparing the final version of
the next update, LEED 2012, due to be
released Nov. 7, 2012. This is all a part of
the USGBC’s previously announced plan
to release updates on a three-year cycle.
As part of the process, draft versions of
projected changes were released for
review and comment at the the end of
2010, followed by a second draft and
review period late this past summer. Now,
with all comments collected, the committees are working on the final document.
The USGBC’s stated goal is to evolve
the rating system until LEED certification
also requires that a building has a neutral
or positive environmental impact. This
evolution is intended to be a gradual
process, beginning first with Platinum-rated buildings and then continuing
down through the rating system so that
eventually even basic certification achieves
the goal of environmental neutrality. The
USGBC recognizes the current rating
system does not yet achieve this goal and
LEED 2012: How Does
It Look?
First, a disclaimer: The final version
of LEED 2012 has not been released, and
thus I cannot state with assurance what
the changes will be. However, based
on the direction of the review process,
following are some observations about
where it appears to be heading.
The structural changes proposed for
LEED 2012 are the most significant since
the first version was released. The rating
system versions to date have consisted
of six separate point or credit categories:
Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy &
Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor
Environmental Quality, and Innovation
in Design. Of these categories, only one,
Energy & Atmosphere, has applied to district
energy systems. The latest proposal includes
adding four new categories to the existing
six. They are Integrated Process, Regional
Priority, Location & Transportation, and
Performance.
Here’s a brief overview of these new
credit categories:
•;Integrated Process – The first category
in the updated rating system, it is
intended to encourage and reward inte-
grated project teams that include LEED
Accredited Professionals (APs) with a
specialty applicable to the rating system.
This has generated questions and con-
cerns from “legacy” LEED APs – who
like me earned accreditation prior to the
introduction of LEED AP specialties – as
to whether they will be able to provide
any value in the certification process.
What’s the Outlook for
District Energy?
Throughout the review process, I have
been monitoring the changes proposed
for LEED 2012 for their impacts on district
energy systems and the corresponding
guideline document Treatment of District
or Campus Thermal Energy in LEED, which
outlines how to account for district energy
service when a project building pursuing
LEED certification receives energy from
a district energy system. My conclusion?
There will be many changes resulting in
a significant impact on district energy
systems and requiring a major revision to
the district energy companion guidelines.
As previously mentioned, in the
current LEED rating process, the only
credit category that pertains to district
energy systems is Energy & Atmosphere.
This is an important category in terms of
the number of points that are contained
within, and it allows system owners and
operators to concern themselves with only
one category. This will have to change
in LEED 2012 as many of the traditional
prerequisites and credits that affect
district energy, such as Commissioning,
Measurement and Verification, and even
Minimum Energy Performance, are moving
to a new home.
