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SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS

Asset Classes

Focus Area

Energy and Carbon

Topic

Baseline Practices

Question #

E1.0a — Energy and Carbon Assessment

Question

Has a Walkthrough Energy and Carbon Assessment been completed in the past five years?

Applicability

Applicable to Office and Healthcare buildings

Answer

Yes – this is a baseline requirement

Description

Assessments allow building management to identify opportunities for operational optimization and capital upgrades, focusing on the highest-impact systems and areas. Align methodology with ASHRAE Level I Audit or equivalent.

 

Buildings with an Energy Star score and obtain GHG information from Energy Star.

 

To generate recommendations for no- and low-cost energy conservation measures (ECMs) and carbon reduction measures (CRMs) as well as more capital-intensive upgrades, assessments should include estimates of potential savings for proposed measures and consider implementation costs. Measures selected for implementation can then be added to plans and budgets.

Requirements

The Energy and Carbon Assessment Report must cover:

    1. Building and system Description and review, interviews with building O&M staff
      • If the site visit was completed remotely, describe steps taken to become familiar with the building’s construction, equipment, operation and maintenance to demonstrate that the assessment accurately reflects on-site conditions
    2. Energy utility history (at least 12 months of continuous data, typically the previous 24-36 months of data) for each energy source
    3. Greenhouse Gas inventory or Carbon emission history (at least 12 months of continuous data, typically the previous 24-36 months of data) for each carbon source
    4. Baseline energy consumption and carbon emissions, with benchmarking
    5. Low- and no-cost energy conservation and/or carbon reduction measures, with high level costing, simple payback and anticipated savings

 

Documentation

Walkthrough Energy and Carbon Assessment Report

Adapted BB3 Question

Best Practice 2 — Has an ASHRAE Level 1 Energy Assessment been conducted in the past five years?

Suggested Lead

In house: Facility Maintenance, Potential in house energy/sustainable operations staff (e.g. JLL)
Third party: Energy/engineering consultants

References

Crosswalk

TBD

Other Notes

The assessment methodology should at least align with an ASHRAE Level I Audit

Refer to Energy Star for carbon emission calculations and creating a GHG inventory. If other carbon emission factors are used, explain reasoning and factors applied.

Scoring

Baseline 

Verification