The work users do in cove.tool can also help them earn LEED Points. As design teams continue to grow and integrate with cove.tool, teams, and their projects should go beyond performance reports in the board rooms, and start earning real recognition from organizations Like USGBC. One easy step users can take now is using cove.tool to in achieving the Integrative Process Credit (LEED v4.0: IP - c1).
The intent of the Integrative Process Credit is “to support high-performance, cost-effective project outcomes through an early analysis of the interrelationships among systems” (LEED v4 – BDC Reference Guide). Similar to cove.tool’s intent, the IP credit was created to incentivize design teams to make comprehensive synergized data-driven decisions during the early stage of design, where cost and performance can be impacted most. Below, is a version of MacLeamy’s curve, a well-known ACE concept that best demonstrates how shifting decision-making in building design early into the process leads to great benefits in building performance and cost, an idea central to the goal of the IP credit.
How to earn the Integrative Process Credit using cove.tool
The IP Credit measures compliance based on the design team’s ability to identify and implement opportunities that achieve synergies across disciplines and building systems. Using the LEED Reference Guide, USGBC has listed possible analyses that could be performed to achieve compliance and be awarded the credit.
Broke into Two Sections:
1: Energy-Related Systems
Discovery Stage: Site conditions, Massing and Orientation, Basic Envelope Attributes, Lighting Levels, Thermal Comfort, Plug and Process Load Needs, Programmatic and Operational Parameters.
Implementation Stage: Building and Site Program, Building Form and Geometry, Building Envelope and Façade Treatments on Different Orientations, Elimination and/or significant downsizing of building systems, and Other Systems.
Section 2: Water-Related Systems
Discovery Stage: Indoor Water Demand, Outdoor Water Demand, Process Water Demand, Supply Sources.
Implementation Stage: Plumbing Systems, Sewage Conveyance and/or On-site Treatment Systems, Rainwater Quality and Management Systems, Landscape, Irrigation, and Site Systems, Roofing Systems, and/or Building Form and Geometry, and Other Systems.
These simulation outputs are then in turn used to inform the owner’s project requirements (OPR), basis of design (BOD), design documents, and construction documents. Cove.tool can be used to automate a majority of these listed operations. Below is a table of the different discovery stage simulations possible in cove.tool, whether cove.tool provides documentation that can be used for LEED Documentation and where to find them in the tool.
New to cove.tool and unsure where to find the final report and csv download?
To find items, go to the Baseline Energy Page (lightning bolt icon on the navigation bar). On the top right-hand corner click the "Create Report" button to package your results in a PDF download. To get the csv download of the engineering inputs, use the "download" button on the center-right of the page.
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