Operational Efficiency and Commissioning

The Board of Supervisors passed the San Francisco Green Building Ordinance unanimously. There has been no industrial backlash and the only reported concern with the Ordinance has to do with some procedural liability issues at the DBI. The one issue expressed by both Robert Baum and Laurence Kornfield was that the LEED system has not sufficiently addressed the buildings operational efficiency. What this means is that measuring the buildings performance can’t occur until the building has been operation for at least a year. LEED has only addressed building operational efficiency in a section headed “Optimize Energy Performance” that allows up to 10 points for more efficient mechanical systems (USGBC, “LEED Green”). That less then 7% of the LEED Rating/Certification rewards the buildings operational efficiency indicates that the focus of the LEED rating is not properly weighted. This problem is currently being addressed by both the USGBC and through a new task force that the Mayor conveyed in February 2009, aptly named the “Existing Buildings Efficiency Initiative Task Force.” The task force is scheduled to deliver its recommendations by June 15, 2009 (SFenviron, “Mayor”). Kornfield, for his part at the DBI considers projects that propose alternative approaches to LEED and are geared toward increasing the buildings “durability” which will reduce the buildings operational cost.

Along the same lines of measuring the buildings operational performance is a section in the code for “Fundamental” and “Enhanced Commissioning.” What this states is that the building owner has to periodically verify that the building is meeting its sustainability requirements, by checking the buildings energy systems (SF, Build Code). The Fundamental Conditioning reviews the performance of HVAC, refrigeration, hot water and any renewable energy and lighting systems; Enhanced Commissioning deals with all the fundamental system verifications plus performance in other areas of sustainability (USGBC, “LEED”). The verification of the commissioning component has not been sufficiently developed in the LEED system. LEED is a point in time certification and there is currently no ongoing maintenance requirement (Longinotti, p21). According to Kornfield, there isn’t a green building inspector who makes a site visit, commissioning is met by a document that the owner submits verifying their compliance.