LEED Atmosphere Credits 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A building owner wants to reduce carbon emissions from purchased electricity. Which LEED EA strategy specifically addresses this by procuring electricity from renewable sources off-site?
- Installing a combined heat and power (CHP) system on-site
- Purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) through EA Credit: Green Power and Carbon Offsets (Correct answer)
- Improving building envelope insulation to reduce heating loads
- Commissioning the HVAC system to run more efficiently
Correct answer: Purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) through EA Credit: Green Power and Carbon Offsets
Purchasing RECs through EA Credit: Green Power and Carbon Offsets allows owners to claim that their electricity consumption is matched by renewable energy generated elsewhere on the grid.
Question 2: Under LEED v4 Enhanced Commissioning, what is the minimum required period for a 'post-occupancy commissioning review' after substantial completion?
- 3 months
- 6 months
- 10 months (Correct answer)
- 24 months
Correct answer: 10 months
Enhanced Commissioning requires a post-occupancy commissioning review approximately 10 months after substantial completion to verify continued performance.
Question 3: What is the primary difference between CFC, HCFC, and HFC refrigerants in terms of environmental impact?
- CFCs have high ODP and high GWP; HCFCs have moderate ODP and moderate GWP; HFCs have zero ODP but high GWP (Correct answer)
- CFCs have zero ODP; HCFCs have high ODP; HFCs have moderate ODP and GWP
- All three have the same GWP but differ only in efficiency
- HFCs have the highest ODP of the three, while CFCs have zero ODP
Correct answer: CFCs have high ODP and high GWP; HCFCs have moderate ODP and moderate GWP; HFCs have zero ODP but high GWP
CFCs destroy ozone and have high GWP; HCFCs partially destroy ozone and have moderate GWP; HFCs do not destroy ozone but still have high GWP, making each progressively better on ODP but still concerning for climate.
Question 4: In a LEED project pursuing EA Prerequisite: Minimum Energy Performance, what is the minimum percentage improvement in energy performance required over the ASHRAE 90.1 baseline for new construction?
- No improvement is required—the building must simply comply with ASHRAE 90.1 (Correct answer)
- 5% improvement
- 10% improvement
- 15% improvement
Correct answer: No improvement is required—the building must simply comply with ASHRAE 90.1
EA Prerequisite: Minimum Energy Performance only requires compliance with ASHRAE 90.1 as a minimum threshold; percentage improvements above baseline are rewarded through the EA Credit: Optimize Energy Performance.
Question 5: Which scenario would most likely trigger additional points under LEED EA Credit: Enhanced Commissioning's 'monitoring-based commissioning' option?
- Hiring a third-party auditor to review design drawings before construction begins
- Installing automated fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) systems that continuously monitor building performance (Correct answer)
- Conducting a blower door test to measure air infiltration
- Replacing all HVAC filters on a quarterly schedule
Correct answer: Installing automated fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) systems that continuously monitor building performance
Monitoring-based commissioning uses automated fault detection and diagnostics to continuously identify performance deviations and trigger corrective action.
Question 6: For a LEED-certified building to earn points under EA Credit: Demand Response, what must a project demonstrate if no demand response program is available in the local utility territory?
- The project is automatically exempt and earns the points without any action
- The project must install on-site battery storage to compensate
- The project must install infrastructure to participate in demand response and have a plan to enroll when a program becomes available (Correct answer)
- The project must generate 100% of its energy on-site via renewables
Correct answer: The project must install infrastructure to participate in demand response and have a plan to enroll when a program becomes available
When no utility demand response program exists, LEED allows projects to earn the credit by installing demand response-ready infrastructure and committing to enroll when a program becomes available.
Question 7: An existing building undergoing LEED O+M certification must track energy use over time. Which tool does USGBC require projects to use for benchmarking energy performance in LEED O+M?
- DOE-2 energy simulation software
- ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager (Correct answer)
- EnergyPlus building simulation program
- ASHRAE Energy Audit Level II report
Correct answer: ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager
LEED O+M requires projects to use EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager to benchmark whole-building energy and water performance against similar buildings.
LEED Atmosphere Credits 5
A building owner wants to reduce carbon emissions from purchased electricity.
Which LEED EA strategy specifically addresses this by procuring electricity from renewable sources off-site?