LEED Third-party Apps to Enable Online Commissioning for Buildings

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and energy efficiency solutions provider Scientific Conservation, Inc. (SCI) have announced their joint efforts to develop and deliver third-party applications to be integrated into LEED Online.

The USGBC develops the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design program while the SCI uses predictive diagnostics and analytics in providing energy efficiency solutions.

“Building commissioning is an important strategy for efficient building performance. SCIwatch will make it even simpler for buildings to pursue a real-time, persistent approach to automated ongoing building commissioning,” said Scot Horst, Senior Vice President, LEED, USGBC.

To that end, the USGBC and SCI aim to enable project teams to submit documentation through LEED Online toward the certification of LEED projects.

This means building owners will be able to use SCI’s SCIwatch technology through the LEED Online platform to enable automated fault detection for ongoing commissioning and predictive maintenance in commercial buildings SCIwatch interfaces remotely with building management systems to analyze inputs, provide continuous visibility into building performance and maintenance needs, and identify operational anomalies causing energy waste, risk to equipment life, and impacts on occupant health.

LEED projects will see several benefits from SCIwatch, such as sustained energy efficiency, reduced maintenance expenses and increased value of building portfolios.

“Almost 40,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising more than 8 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 120 countries.

“LEED-certified buildings cost less to operate and maintain, have higher lease-up rates, and are healthier for building occupants and the environment,” the USGBC said in a statement.

“SCI is excited to be working with the USGBC to ensure that the impact of LEED certification is maintained every day of the year. This will result in further protecting building owners’ investment in LEED, while also favorably impacting their carbon footprint,” said Alan White, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, SCI.

SCI uses the industry’s first software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to help reduce annual energy spending by comparing predicted energy and system efficiencies against real-time.