Baselines
New Building projects must use the calculated EUI of a comparable building meeting ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019 or later (ASHRAE 90.1), or IECC 2021 or later (IECC 2021), as a baseline (see Approved Regional Equivalencies for alternatives approved in specific regions). Projects must determine if the energy consumption levels are at least 20% better than ASHRAE Standard 90.1. This requires the use of a whole building simulation tool and model. Project teams must use the Performance Rating Method found in Appendix G of ASHRAE Standard 90.1, except energy provided by renewable systems, either on-or offsite, may not be factored into achievement of the operational energy efficiency requirements. For residential and commercial buildings not covered by ASHRAE 90.1, IECC 2021 or later can be alternatively used to set the calculated EUI of a comparable building.
Building Renovation or Interior projects may show that a project meets the energy consumption levels of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 or IECC 2021 by using the prescriptive or Energy Cost Budget (ECB) methods in lieu of the Performance Rating Method (see Approved Regional Equivalencies for alternatives approved in specific regions).
Residential projects not covered by ASHRAE 90.1 or IECC 2021, Building Renovation, or Interior projects also have the option to demonstrate a 50% reduction in total net annual energy consumption as compared to a project-specific baseline. Baselines can be established by using a current typical building with a comparable climate, floor area, use, and occupancy. Project teams must use approved baselining tools to calculate energy baselines. If a project has more than one Typology (e.g., a Building Renovation project with an addition), the energy baseline can be created by using a weighted average based on the Project Boundary and the required reduction percentages.
If a project’s energy model and target EUI need to be updated due to unprecedented weather patterns or a change in building use and function after the Ready Audit is complete, the team must submit a narrative justifying the new target EUI and the new energy model. The new narrative and energy model must be submitted for review by an ILFI third-party auditor prior to the Final Audit for an additional fee. Project teams must contact lbc.certifications@living-future.org to initiate this process.
Baselining Tools
For Building Renovation or Interior projects pursuing the project-specific baseline pathway, the list below comprises the tools currently approved to develop project-specific energy baselines. If a project team wishes to use an alternative data source or methodology that is more locally relevant for establishing an equivalent baseline, it must be submitted as a Request for Ruling for preapproval. Requests must include a description of the tool, the source of the data, date of the dataset, and why the alternative is more accurate or relevant for the project (typology, country, region, etc.). The baseline and target EUI generated by the proposed tool must also be provided with the request. Additional tools have been approved for Oceania, Singapore, Europe, and Minnesota in the U.S. (see Approved Regional Equivalencies).
- Zero Tool is a web-based tool, created by Architecture 2030, that calculates a building-specific baseline Energy Use Intensity (EUI), target EUI, and GHG emissions based on a reduction goal. To generate these values, the tool utilizes climate, type, and occupancy-normalized energy consumption data from the 2003 U.S. Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) dataset. Values can be generated for projects in North America, though the tool provides guidance on how to generate equivalent values for projects in other countries.
- EDGE is a web-based tool, developed by IFC World Bank Group, that draws on various data sources to generate an energy baseline. Results can be generated for projects in Africa, Asia, and North and South America. The tool sources energy consumption trend data from local energy efficiency codes when applicable or otherwise uses the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 standard to generate a baseline case.
Data to be entered into the selected baselining tool, such as ZIP/postal code, building use type(s), and gross floor area(s), must be as detailed as possible so that the resulting baseline is as accurate as possible.
Building-Specific Baseline Data
The following tools may also be used to generate the baseline EUI for the specified building type:
Multifamily Housing
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is a web-based tool developed by ENERGY STAR that measures and tracks energy performance within buildings.
Laboratory Projects
Laboratory Benchmarking Tool is a web-based tool developed by kW Engineering, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL).
Interior
Energy Baseline and Performance Scope
Energy loads that are within the tenant space and within the tenant’s control must be included in the energy baseline and performance calculations. The percent reduction should be calculated using this scope-dependent baseline.
An Interior project may not exclude energy consuming loads within their tenant space because they do not plan to upgrade them.
Shared base building systems, including district energy systems, out of the project’s scope and control, such as HVAC, may be uniformly excluded from the baseline and target EUI calculations, anticipated performance calculations, and metering strategy at the team’s discretion. However, if the project is pursuing I08- Net Positive Carbon, the project’s proportionate share of energy usage must be calculated and offset with renewables. See additional guidance below in the Energy Budget Clarifications of Imperative 8: Net Positive Carbon.
Where base building loads are out of scope but included in the energy efficiency calculations (such as when Zero Tool is used), to demonstrate performance, teams may calculate their share of HVAC energy in one of two ways:
- by using air flow meters to measure conditioned air serving the tenant space relative to total conditioned air for the building;
- or by determining a proportionate share of the metered base building loads based on the ratio of the tenant’s rentable square footage to the total rentable square footage of the building.
Baseline Modeling
Interior projects and Existing Buildings may use ASHRAE 90.1- 2010 to conduct their energy modeling. Loads that are eligible for exclusion may be omitted from the energy model or removed by post-processing.
Alternatively, the baseline may be created using Zero Tool or the IFC’s EDGE tool. In this case, the baseline should be created using data for the entire building. The target EUI can be calculated by using a tenant-proportionate share of the whole-building baseline. For projects where other building uses would disproportionately influence the target EUI–for example, a building containing both low-EUI office space and high-EUI lab space– the team may propose an alternative baseline design in Zero Tool or EDGE Tool that more accurately reflects the project’s energy profile.
An EUI generated with Zero Tool or EDGE Tool will generally include base-building energy use, such as HVAC, which can be excluded from Interior projects if it is outside their control. The team may choose to retain these loads in the EUI calculations and expand the scope of energy metering and performance tracking to match, or they may propose a methodology to remove these loads from the EUI, subject to approval by Living Future. The data granularity in the EDGE tool may facilitate these calculations.
Where a tenant-proportionate share must be determined, base the calculations on the percent of the net-leasable area occupied by the project.
Performance Period and Multiple Tenants
Additional guidance regarding baselines for multi-tenant projects is under the performance period clarifications in this Imperative.
