What is Green Building and LEED Certification?


November 05, 2019

Buildings have a considerable impact on the environment, using energy and other resources while generating potentially harmful waste. To reduce the impact of buildings on the environment, green building standards for sustainable design are now in practice. These standards detail requirements for designing, constructing, and operating buildings in a way that uses fewer resources and produces less waste.

Green building practices continue to be developed and are becoming more popular as sustainability concerns rise. If green building standards were to be adopted on a widespread basis, their effect could change the building industry for the better.

LEED Certification

A building constructed with green standards in mind can then receive green building certification. A space can be green if not certified, but there are tangible benefits that come with green building certification. One of the most widely used green building rating systems for certification isLEED. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is an internationally recognized green building rating system that verifies construction used environmentally sustainable strategies.

Beyond being sustainable and environmentally conscious, LEED certification has tangibleLEED_Scoreadvantages:

  • State and local tax incentives and rebates
  • Lower insurance premiums
  • Higher property values
  • Saving money on utility costs
  • Higher resale

Meeting LEED Requirements

One of the most important factors LEED considers when certifying buildings is energy consumption and the ability to track usage to identify potential energy savings. Most conventional buildings have simple meters provided by the utility company; however, more robust and precise monitoring is required to meet the standards for advanced LEED certification. Any new build or renovation project looking to be LEED certified needs power meters and/or submeters to monitor building-level energy consumption and establish a baseline. Individual energy uses must be submetered if they make up 10% or more of the building's annual energy consumption.

To meet a minimum certification threshold, data needs to be logged manually from the utility's meter every month. To meet the advanced certification threshold, multiple energy usage parameters must be monitored so data can be segmented. Meeting these advanced requirements for LEED certification necessitates precision beyond the data manually logged from the utility's meter. For these advanced requirements, a user owned power meter must:

  • Be permanently installed, record at intervals of one hour or less, and transmit data to a remote location
  • 记录消费和需求,and power-factor if appropriate
  • Use a local area network, building automation system, wireless network, or comparable communication infrastructure for the data collection system
  • Have a data collection system capable of storing all meter data for at least 36 months
  • Have remotely accessible data
  • Have all meters capable of reporting hourly, daily, monthly, and annual energy use

Going Green with Setra's Power Meter

power-meters

Setra'sPower Meter是一个建立在多功能和强大的平台上的网络仪表,旨在满足任何分计量应用的需求。所有版本都是现场配置的标准或Rogowski风格的电流变压器测量低和高安培。车载门户网站允许在仪表安装之前、期间和之后对所有参数进行安全的预配置。该网站门户还提供强大的分析和安装工具直接通过USB或通信连接。多负载监视提供了在负载级别管理使用所需的粒度,并鼓励节约能源。每个版本的电能表都具有标准的数据记录功能,允许用户使用门户网站软件访问电能表上的数据长达62天。

Topics:Energy Management