Green Building Certification Process: How Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring Helps Achieve Top-Level Sustainability Standards
Whatever green building certification process you are going through for your existing building—BREEAM-In-Use or LEED O+M—energy performance is a key factor in obtaining it. These standards require rigorous and documented energy consumption monitoring, backed by concrete and measurable results. To meet these requirements, a reliable and accurate continuous energy measurement and monitoring system is essential.
Discover how Smart Impulse’s Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) technology effectively supports you in achieving your environmental certification goals.
BREEAM-In-Use: The First Green Building Certification Process
Created by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in the UK, BREEAM-In-Use was the world’s first environmental certification, introduced in 1990. Today, it is widely used in Europe and internationally to assess the environmental performance of existing buildings.
It is designed to help building managers reduce operational costs and improve environmental performance through better building design and management. The certification evaluates existing buildings across two categories: asset performance (Part 1) and building management performance (Part 2). Each part is assessed independently, allowing clients to set their priorities.
The assessment covers nine key categories:
The highest weighting in the BREEAM In-use ranking is given to energy: 25% and 27%, respectively.
The certification offers six levels of validation for each part, ranging from Acceptable to Outstanding:
- <10%: Unclassified
- ≥10 to <25%: Acceptable ★
- ≥25 to <40%: Pass ★★
- ≥40 to <55%: Good ★★★
- ≥55 to <70%: Very Good ★★★★
- ≥70 to <85%: Excellent ★★★★★
- ≥85%: Outstanding ★★★★★★
Smart Impulse’s solution enables detailed energy measurement and monitoring, helping to identify energy-saving opportunities for equipment and tenant areas. This can contribute up to 8 credits in the Asset Performance category.
By implementing Smart Impulse’s technology along with a sustainable energy management strategy, you can achieve up to 57 credits in the Building Management Performance category.
LEED O+M (Operations and Maintenance): The Global Standard for Green Certification
Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the LEED certification is now a global benchmark, used in over 160 countries.
LEED O+M focuses on sustainable improvements for existing buildings with minimal renovation requirements. It covers sectors such as schools, retail, hospitality, data centers, warehouses, and maintenance facilities.
The LEED O+M rating system is point-based, assessing the sustainable systems and design elements used in projects. A maximum of 110 points can be awarded, allowing buildings to achieve certification and become sustainability leaders.
Point distribution:
- Sustainable Sites: 26
- Water Efficiency: 14
- Energy and Atmosphere: 35
- Materials and Resources: 10
- Indoor Environmental Quality: 15
- Innovation and Design: 6
- Regional Priority Credit: 4
LEED Certification Levels:
- Certified: 40-49 points
- Silver: 50-59 points
- Gold: 60-79 points
- Platinum: 80+ points
Energy and Atmosphere is the most critical category in LEED O+M, with 35 points available.
In the “Energy Performance” subcategory, certification requires meters to accurately measure energy consumption in buildings.
With Smart Impulse, you fully meet this requirement while benefiting from an easy-to-deploy solution for existing buildings. Thanks to NILM (Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring) technology, installation takes less than an hour, with no construction work or operational downtime.
The solution allows you to:
- Measure and track energy consumption by end-use
- Quickly identify energy-intensive equipment
- Define targeted actions and monitor their impact over time
From an intuitive, user-friendly platform, you access granular data by equipment, facilitating informed decision-making for reducing consumption and documenting results—key advantages for reaching the highest levels of operational energy performance.
Why Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring is Essential for Meeting Today’s Green Building Certification Process
Whether you aim for BREEAM-In-Use or LEED O+M, these environmental certifications share a common requirement: the need to measure, monitor, and manage building energy performance over time.
NILM technology provides a simple and effective solution to meet these demands:
- Rapid, non-intrusive installation with no impact on building operations
- Granular, usage-based insights
- Reliable, standardised data
- Decision support for energy optimisation
By integrating an intelligent energy measurement system at the start of the certification process, building owners and managers maximise their chances of success while ensuring long-term asset value.
Would you like to integrate an smart energy metering solution into your environmental certification strategy?
