855773667-LEED-v5-O-M-Reference-Guide-Launch-Edition-1 - Page 114

Extracted Content

Building Performance Standard Business-as-Usual Projection

Projects subject to a carbon-based or energy use intensity (EUI)-based building performance standard (BPS) must create an ordinance-specific 25-year BPS-BAU projection, with an overlay of the BPS caps. For EUI-based BPS, the BPS-BAU must be an energy BAU, and for carbonbased BPS, the BPS-BAU must be a carbon BAU reflecting the electrical carbon coefficients as defined in the ordinance. If applicable, calculate the assessed annual fines or fees that will apply for exceeding the caps, and the cumulative fines or fees over the 25-year period.

The owner or owner’s representative must attest that they have reviewed the project’s BAU and fee projections.

REQUIREMENTS EXPLAINED

This prerequisite provides the project team with a view of the baseline operational carbon emissions projection from energy use. The prerequisite requires projects subject to certain types of Building Performance Standards (BPS) to gain an understanding of the impact of the project’s performance over time in relation to BPS requirements.

These operational carbon projections only include carbon emissions from energy use, not emissions from refrigerants or the embodied carbon emissions due to renovations. One purpose of these requirements is to help owners and project teams visualize the basic contours of how their carbon emissions will change over time, with emissions from electricity declining to almost nothing over 25 years while the emissions from onsite combustion remain. Another aim is to enable project teams to understand which end-uses are responsible for the long-term emissions from onsite combustion.

The aim of the BPS business-as-usual (BAU), or do-nothing, projection is to enable building owners subject to a BPS to understand their exposure to fees or fines for non-compliance in the BAU scenario.

Operational Carbon Projection

Using one year of data provided by the project team, a carbon projection will be created for the project. Data referenced to create this projection includes the building’s gross area, location, and one year of energy data, by energy type . The carbon projection developed is a 25-year “business-as-usual” (BAU) carbon projection that assumes the following:

• The project energy use remains consistent over a 25-year time period.

U.S. Green Building Council LEED v5 Reference Guide for Operations and Maintenance, April 2025 Launch Edition 104