http://disqus.com/by/michaelgibbons/enThu, 06 Aug 2009 17:42:31 -0000http://konstructr.com/the-bottom-line-on-green-buildings/#comment-14395364<p> Rich,<br> I agree with the statement that under LEED v3 there is a risk of decertification of a certified building if the owner does not cooperate with the production of energy and water use data to the USGBC. I cannot agree with the second part of your argument, however, that submitting the energy data on a poorly performing building "will cause tenants to sue". The USGBC has been outspoken in its position that the data will be published only to the USGBC and will be used only for research purposes. Researchers need to study trends and patterns in underperforming buildings. It is not necessary in the research to identify by postal address each of the underlying sources of the energy data relied upon by the researcher. Accordingly, there is no basis for believing that publishing energy data to the USGBC pursuant to the new MPR will lead to tenant suits.</p><p> Also, there is a problem with the timing of the decisions you discuss above. The decision to seek certification is typically made during design. If postponed until during construction, it rarely lags to post substantial completion of the building. Meanwhile, the owner won't really know how efficiently her building is operating until there is a year's worth of data (during four seasons and with full occupancies) to evaluate. Accordingly, in most instances the decision to seek certification will far predate the knowledge of whether the building is performing efficiently.</p>michaelgibbonsThu, 06 Aug 2009 17:42:31 -0000http://konstructr.com/the-bottom-line-on-green-buildings/#comment-14016335<p> According to the USGBC, there will be no building decertification for failure of a certified building to perform in accordance with energy optimization modeling (i.e., the targeted credit level). Decertification is only possible (however unlikely) if the owner of a certified building refuses to share energy and water usage data in accordance with the MPR. The new MPR is all about collecting sufficient data to allow for meaningful measurement and verification of building designs and targeted credits (to inform future development of LEED and identify what is working and not working). The notion that a certified building risks decertification if it fails to perform sustainably or in accordance with the earlier achieved credits is a total straw man argument that needs to be discredited.</p>michaelgibbonsWed, 05 Aug 2009 22:47:20 -0000