EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

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Control Systems & LEED

By Alissa Cooperman; John Dieckmann, Member ASHRAE; and James Brodrick, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE

T ypically, the largest energy consumers in commercial buildings are

lighting and HVAC systems. Under the latest revision of LEED, 2009
v3, many of the points needed to obtain LEED certification can be ac-
One companys building automation
system monitored the HVAC system us-
ing CO2, outdoor airflow, temperature,
and relative humidity sensors. This sys-
tem ensured 30% more outdoor air than
required by ASHRAE Standard 62.1;
quired through LEED credits that require or suggest the implementation this garnered 1 LEED-NC point. It also
provided a 6% reduction in natural gas and
of control systems for lighting, HVAC, and/or the entire building. 1% reduction in electricity consumption,
The point thresholds for the different hours with limited override determined by again contributing to acquiring LEED
levels of LEED certification, based on occupancy sensors, and suggests CO2 and points. The buildings use of daylight set
LEED-NC 2009, are outlined in Table 1.3 airflow sensors to trigger the HVAC system the baseline lighting energy consumption
The most recent revision of LEED-NC directly or to trigger the building automa- 15% below ASHRAE-compliant build-
emphasizes energy efficiency and indoor tion system to alter the ventilation/outdoor ings and another 6% savings were gained
environment quality. This is reflected in air delivery as needed by the interior. with the controls used. In all, the building
the significant increase in potential points To accomplish the Measurement & reduced its energy use by 25% compared
in the Energy & Atmosphere credit cat- Verification credit, energy consumption to precommissioning levels.6
egory from 17 in v. 2.2 to 35 in v. 3.2,4 trend monitoring systems and control CBECS (Commercial Building Energy
Other LEED systems have similarly system diagnostic alerts are suggested. Consumption Survey) 2003* data shows
high point allotments in the energy and For the Lighting Controllability of Sys- that daylight sensors are used in only
atmosphere section. tems credits, occupant based control and roughly 2% of lit commercial space, and
This column outlines where and how task based controls are suggested.3 One lighting energy management and control
the use of control systems has been inte- company claims that the use of their light- systems are used in only a little more than
grated into qualifying for LEED points ing energy management system with oc- 1% of lit commercial space.7 Energy man-
for certification. LEED-NC (New Con- cupancy and photo sensors and a variety agement and control systems for HVAC
struction and Major Renovations) is used of control strategies (time scheduling, are used in about 5.5% of surveyed com-
as the reference rating system. occupancy control, task tuning, etc) can mercial buildings.7 A great potential for
The need for using control systems help to gain any of the 29 points listed.5 energy savings exists in the 95% to 99%
is evident by their being mentioned Overall, LEED 2009 encourages auto- of buildings that have yet to adopt energy-
specifically throughout the Energy and mated and manual controls as a means to saving control systems.
Atmosphere, Indoor Environment, and reduce building energy consumption and to Commercial building lighting consumed
even Site Sustainability credit categories. improve the buildings indoor environment 3.69 quads of energy in 2010, 20.2% of
Points can be attained by reducing light and outdoor environmental impact.3 It takes the total primary energy consumed by
pollution, optimizing and monitoring the 40 points for a building to become LEED commercial buildings that year.8 In addi-
buildings energy performance, control- certified. Thus, it is feasible to obtain a large tion to fixtures that consume less energy,
ling lighting, and providing a comfortable fraction of the points needed for LEED cer- control strategies to reduce lighting use and
and safe indoor environment. tification by choosing to meet credits that energy consumption could save significant
Table 2 summarizes some of the credits suggest or require an energy control system. amounts of energy if widely implemented.
that can be gained with the help of control With current technologies and soft- One company offers addressable dim-
systems.3 Table 2 totals a possible 29 points ware, lighting and HVAC systems can be ming controls. This allows for control
obtainable through strategies in which con- automatically controlled, scheduled, and
* CBECS 2003 is the latest dataset as the CBECS
trols play an integral part. For example, the monitored based on occupancy, space use, 2007 dataset was deemed invalid for lack of sta-
LEED-NC 2009 guidance suggests input and time of day. This leads to energy sav- tistical significance and other reasons. CBECS 2012
power reductions for interior lighting after ings and can be applied for LEED credits. is currently in progress to be released in 2014.

96 ASHRAE Journal a s h r a e . o r g June 2012

down to the individual light fixture or Building Operation and Maintenance) a LEED Certification Level Points
sensor. Many lighting energy manage- building must first meet minimum energy Certified 4049
ment strategies can be implemented efficiency (ENERGY STAR minimum
Silver 5059
with addressable dimming controls: time qualified rating) and indoor air quality
Gold 6079
scheduling, occupancy based, daylight (Standard 62.1-2007) requirements.
harvesting, and task tuning. On average, Beyond these standards, buildings Platinum 80+
30% of the electricity used for lighting achieve points for improved energy ef- Table 1: LEED Building Rating System.3
can be saved.5 ficiency, an ENERGY STAR rating above
Another strategy is bilevel stairwell the minimum of 69, and indoor environ- system will contribute to the necessary
lighting. Stairwell floor space amounts ment quality beyond that required. energy savings to gain these points.5
to 2% of multistory commercial building For LEED-NC 2009, ASHRAE Stan-
floor space, is used at most 5% of the day, dard 90.1-2007 provides the energy base- Energy Savings Example
and is usually continuously lit. Dependent line that new buildings must outperform For most commercial buildings, lighting
on a regions safety codes, occupancy sen- by 10% and existing buildings by 5%. amounts to one-third of the electricity used;
sors used to dim or even completely turn Above this level, a point is gained for in lodging and retail buildings, lighting can
off stairwell lights when the stairs are not every 2% of energy optimization with a account for half of the electricity used.5
in use result in large savings. point cap at 19 points. Similar point sys- Lighting control can be performed by
Two buildings in New York City and four tems exist in other LEED categories.4 One using a variety of sensors and control
in California saved up to 60% of the energy company claims that their lighting energy strategies. Occupancy and daylight sen-
previously used to light their stairwells.9 management strategies in communica- sors integrated into a centralized control
As lighting control systems help build- tion with the HVAC/building automation network, and time-based scheduling are
ings gain LEED points, so do HVAC two examples of ways to adjust lighting.
This represents one way to meet the minimum
controls and building automation sys- prerequisite energy savings; others are outlined in As previously mentioned, addressable
tems. Under LEED EB-O&M (Existing LEED-EB O&M documentation. dimming controls can be used, allowing

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June 2012 ASHRAE Journal 97

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

for centralized lighting control down to the individual fixture Credit Potential
or sensor. Credit
Category Points
A survey of lighting control schemes found that the use of
Sustainable
multiple control strategies provided the most savings. Table 3 Light Pollution Reduction 1
Sites
summarizes the results. Personal and institutional tuning allow
Optimize Energy Performance 19
for control through dimmers, preset selections based on a rooms Energy and
functionality, and on-off switches.10 Atmosphere
Measurement and Verification (M&V) 3
The LEED guidelines specifically have points that can only be
attained by using control systems. With a more integrated and Outdoor Air Delivery Monitoring 1
centralized control system, the building can be managed more
Controllability of Systems
effectively as a unit, more energy savings can be achieved, and Lighting 1
additional LEED points can be earned. Indoor Thermal Comfort 1
Environmental
Market Potential Quality Thermal Comfort Verification 1
Under LEED 2009, it is difficult to acquire LEED certifi- Daylight and Views
cation without the use of a control system, and the potential Daylight 1
advantages of a green building outweigh the costs. As of 2008, Views 1
the energy cost of a green building was 30% lower on average
Total 29
than a conventional building. Additionally, the average rent for
Class A office buildings was $10 more per square foot ($108 Table 2: Potential LEED credits through control system use.3
more per square meter) for LEED-certified buildings compared
to all Class A office buildings in 2008. More recently, green These savings and higher rental rates do not come at a sig-
Class A office space has an average lease rate 20% higher than nificantly higher construction cost. A 2006 study of 221 build-
the general Class A office space average.11,12 ings showed that although 83 of the buildings were striving

www.info.hotims.com/41640-58
98 A S H R A E J o u r n a l June 2012
 for LEED certification, most of the buildings would have been Control Strategy Energy Savings
able to achieve LEED certification with no additional funding. Occupancy Sensor 24%
Otherwise, the cost premium for a LEED Silver building was
Daylight Sensors 28%
only 1% to 2%.11 For one case, an investment of 2% in green
Personal Tuning 31%
building design resulted in life cycle cost savings of 20% of
Institutional Tuning 36%
total construction costs, and a sale price 10% higher per square
foot than a conventional building. More specifically, this already Multiple Approaches 38%
energy efficient green building was saving $647,747 per year. Table 3: Energy savings by lighting control strategy.10
However, after acquiring LEED certification the buildings an-
nual savings increased by an additional $534,398.12 9. Dilouie, C. 2012. Bilevel Stairwell Lighting Promises Up to
7080 Percent Energy Savings. Lighting Controls Association. http://
References tinyurl.com/bilevel-stairwell.
1. DOE. 2010. Buildings Energy Databook. Chap. 1. http://tinyurl. 10. Williams, A., et al. 2012. Lighting controls in commercial build-
com/DOE-Chap1. ings. Leukos 2(3):16180. http://tinyurl.com/Williiams2012.
2. USGBC. 2011. What LEED Is. http://tinyurl.com/What-LEED. 11. Turner Construction. 2008. Green Building Market Barometer.
3. USGBC. 2009. LEED-NC. http://tinyurl.com/LEED-NC2009. http://tinyurl.com/Barometer2008.
4. LUTRON. 2010. Light Control and LEED. http://tinyurl.com/ 12. USGBC. 2011. The business case for LEED. http://tinyurl.com/
Light-LEED. BusCaseLEED.
5. Mocherniak, T., et al. 2011. Obtaining LEED Points With Address- 13. Lozano, A. 2000. Are Building Automation Systems Putting Build-
able Dimming Controls. Encelium. http://tinyurl.com/dimming-ctrl. ings in the LEED? Frost & Sullivan. http://tinyurl.com/Lozano2000.
6. Siemens Industry. 2010. Going Green Starts at Home for Siemens John Dieckmann is a director and Alissa Cooperman is a
Office. http://tinyurl.com/Siemens-LEED. technologist in the Mechanical Systems Group of TIAX LLC,
7. EIA. 2003. Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey.
Lexington, Mass. James Brodrick, Ph.D., is a project manager
Table B38. http://tinyurl.com/CBECS-B38.
REC_ADV_USA 29-02-2012 10:33 Pagina 1
8. DOE. 2010. Buildings Energy Databook. Table 3.1.4. http://tinyurl. with the Building Technologies Program, U.S. Department of
com/DOE3-1-4. Energy, Washington, D.C.

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June 2012 ASHRAE Journal 99