LEED Baseline Energy Definition

How is the LEED baseline determined to inform potential LEED Points?

Patrick Chopson avatar
Written by Patrick Chopson
Updated over a week ago

cove.tool follows LEED v4.0 BD+C methodology for calculating potential EAc2 LEED Points on the baseline page. The requirements of this credit are to compare the proposed building against a baseline defined by ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010, Appendix G. To accomplish this cove.tool uses information about each project to determine the correct baseline inputs, the most complex of which is the System Type.

The selection of system type is defined in Table G3.1.1A of ASHRAE 90.1-2010 shown here.

cove.tool has codified this selection process into a series of if-then statements, for example

if 'Primary Heating Energy' equals 'Electric' then 'System Type' equals 'System 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10'

Using these if-then statements and the inputs of building type, floor area, stories, primary heating energy, and finally existence of cooling system the correct system is selected for each project.

Note: Currently, cove.tool cannot be used for EAc2 compliance/ documentation but can be valuable for estimating % energy reduction and possible EAc2 points that can be achieved. Via loadmodeling.tool users can export to OpenStudio, EnergyPlus or .gbXML to complete a compliance level model. Learn more about the many compliance workflows available here.

For more information about cove.tool and LEED check out these articles below.


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