BOMA BOMA Energy Management & Sustainability 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is 'demand response' in the context of commercial building energy management?
- Responding to tenant demands for increased HVAC comfort levels
- Voluntarily reducing electricity consumption during peak grid demand periods, often in exchange for financial incentives (Correct answer)
- Automatically increasing energy supply to meet building demand spikes
- A utility billing program based on actual rather than estimated usage
Correct answer: Voluntarily reducing electricity consumption during peak grid demand periods, often in exchange for financial incentives
Demand response programs allow building operators to reduce electricity use during high-demand periods (like hot summer afternoons), helping grid stability and typically earning the building owner financial credits or reduced rates.
Question 2: What is the primary purpose of commissioning a building's mechanical systems?
- Legally commissioning the building for occupancy under local codes
- Verifying that building systems are installed correctly and operating as designed to optimize performance (Correct answer)
- Commissioning artwork and signage for the building's common areas
- Establishing a commission structure for the property management team
Correct answer: Verifying that building systems are installed correctly and operating as designed to optimize performance
Building commissioning is a systematic quality assurance process that verifies and documents that all building systems and assemblies are installed, calibrated, and performing according to design specifications.
Question 3: What percentage of US commercial buildings' carbon emissions are typically attributed to energy consumption, making it the primary focus of sustainability efforts?
- About 20%
- About 40%
- About 70% (Correct answer)
- About 90%
Correct answer: About 70%
Commercial buildings are responsible for approximately 70% of US electricity consumption and nearly 40% of total US carbon emissions, with energy use being the dominant sustainability challenge.
Question 4: What is 'green lease' language designed to accomplish?
- Require tenants to use only environmentally certified cleaning products
- Align landlord and tenant sustainability goals and share costs and benefits of energy efficiency improvements (Correct answer)
- Lease space exclusively to environmentally certified businesses
- Reduce paper usage in the lease administration process
Correct answer: Align landlord and tenant sustainability goals and share costs and benefits of energy efficiency improvements
Green lease provisions align landlord and tenant interests in building sustainability by addressing information sharing, energy benchmarking, operational standards, and how efficiency improvement costs and savings are shared.
Question 5: What is 'sub-metering' in a commercial building and why is it valuable?
- Installing secondary water meters to detect leaks in plumbing systems
- Installing individual energy meters for each tenant or major system to track consumption separately (Correct answer)
- Measuring sub-basement energy usage separately from upper floors
- A billing method where tenants pay below market utility rates
Correct answer: Installing individual energy meters for each tenant or major system to track consumption separately
Sub-metering installs individual utility meters for each tenant or major building system, enabling accurate allocation of energy costs, identifying inefficiencies, and providing tenants with consumption data to encourage conservation.
Question 6: In BOMA's sustainability framework, what does 'scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions' refer to?
- Emissions from small, medium, and large buildings respectively
- Direct emissions (scope 1), indirect emissions from purchased energy (scope 2), and all other indirect emissions in the value chain (scope 3) (Correct answer)
- Emissions from building operations, tenant activities, and visitor transportation respectively
- Carbon emissions measured at local, regional, and national scale
Correct answer: Direct emissions (scope 1), indirect emissions from purchased energy (scope 2), and all other indirect emissions in the value chain (scope 3)
The GHG Protocol categorizes emissions as scope 1 (direct from owned sources like boilers), scope 2 (indirect from purchased electricity/heat), and scope 3 (all other indirect emissions from the value chain).
BOMA BOMA Energy Management & Sustainability 2
What is 'demand response' in the context of commercial building energy management?