A LEED Building Design and Construction: New Construction office building’s HVAC system includes hot water from a central utility plant. The central utility plant is owned and operated by a management company. The office pays a flat fee for hot water, included as part of the lease. The management company does not meter or invoice for actual hot water consumption. For the project to meet the requirements for Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite, Building-Level Energy Metering, an energy meter must be installed for

A LEED Building Design and Construction: New Construction office building’s HVAC system includes hot water from a central utility plant. The central utility plant is owned and operated by a management company. The office pays a flat fee for hot water, included as part of the lease. The management company does not meter or invoice for actual hot water consumption. For the project to meet the requirements for Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite, Building-Level Energy Metering, an energy meter must be installed for
A . natural gas
B . hot water at the main service point
C . nothing, because the flat fee is included as part of the lease
D . nothing, because the energy source is outside of the project’s scope

View Answer

Answer: B

Explanation:

An energy meter must be installed for hot water at the main service point for the project to meet the requirements for Energy and Atmosphere Prerequisite, Building-Level Energy Metering. According to the LEED v4 BD+C Reference Guide, this prerequisite requires that “all energy sources used by the building must be metered or submetered” 1. The hot water from the central utility plant is an energy source used by the building, even if it is not directly paid by the office. Therefore, it must be metered at the point where it enters the building. The other options are incorrect because natural gas is not an energy source used by the building in this case, and the flat fee or the ownership of the energy source do not exempt the project from the metering requirement.

Reference: LEED v4 BD+C Reference Guide, Energy and Atmosphere Category, EAp Building-Level Energy Metering, page 569.