BOMA Energy Management & Sustainability Flashcards

What is 'demand response' in the context of commercial building energy management?

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.

What is the primary purpose of commissioning a building's mechanical systems?

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.

What percentage of US commercial buildings' carbon emissions are typically attributed to energy consumption, making it the primary focus of sustainability efforts?

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.

What is 'green lease' language designed to accomplish?

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.

What is 'sub-metering' in a commercial building and why is it valuable?

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.

In BOMA's sustainability framework, what does 'scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions' refer to?

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).