Selecting the Right Protocol

Selecting the most appropriate protocol is one of the first steps in your ICP project journey. Retrofit projects are not simple to classify, so Project Developers should work with their Quality Assurance Providers and Investors to select the best protocol for each project based on that project's size, scope, and risk profile. The goal is to achieve "substantial" compliance with all requirements of the selected protocol; however, working with a professional engineer as a selected third-party quality assurance provider, protocols can be adapted to fit each project so long as any changes are documented in notes to the QAA check-list, and do not substantially affect the accuracy and rigor of the certification.

Large Commercial 

The Large Commercial Protocol is designed for large scale projects that involve whole building retrofits and other projects involving multiple measures with interactive effects where the cost of improvements and possibility of energy savings justifies greater time and effort in pre-and post-development energy analysis.  This protocol also applies to  high performing projects with sufficient savings for pre- and post-retrofit meter data yields where savings are of greater magnitude than noise.  

For projects that satisfy these requirements, the Large Commercial Protocol will still not be appropriate for every building. This protocol is biased towards whole building metered pre- and post- retrofit data-driven (IPMVP Option C-type) approaches, however, such an approach may not be appropriate for buildings that do not have relatively stable fundamental usage patterns  (e.g., buildings that are characterized by large and frequent changes in the type of space use and/or those with unpredictable and inconsistent schedules).  In such cases, alternative methods not covered here may be required. 

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Large COMMERCIAL

Standard Commercial 

The Standard Commercial Protocol is designed for commercial retrofit projects consisting of multiple measures costing typically under $1MM where engineering requirements must be scaled to fit performance risk.  These projects are typically considered "high performing projects" where the projected energy savings typically cover the project investment cost

The Standard Commercial Protocol allows for the use of various open-book calculation methods and relies on partial and full measurement and verification of the energy use and system(s) to which an energy conservation measure was applied (see Option A: Retrofit Isolation: Key Parameter Measurement and Option B: Retrofit Isolation: All Parameter Measurement). However, these approaches may not be appropriate for buildings requiring a more holistic approach including the use of an energy model to determine energy savings and/or IPMVP Option C: Whole Facility approach for measurement and verification of savings.  In the case of a building requiring such a holistic approach. In this case, the M&V requirements of the Large Commercial  Protocol should be used instead.

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Standard Commercial

Targeted Commercial 

The Targeted Commercial Protocol is designed for projects that involve single measures or smaller sets of energy measures with limited interactivity such as lighting, controls, HVAC replacement, etc.  The Targeted Commercial Protocols does make allowances for alternative and simplified approaches to technical underwriting and engineering and provides a standardized framework that is scaled for energy efficiency projects with less complexity and financial risk.

These targeted projects typically affect only a portion of the building’s end-uses, and have greater budget constraints so that project development requires a streamlined approach with scaled requirements in order to not overly burden the project budget.

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Targeted Commercial

Basic / Performance Retrofit

The ICP Protocol for Basic / Performance Commercial (ICP-BC) is designed for two project types.

• Basic energy efficiency projects that involve individual or smaller sets of energy conservation measures (ECM) that focus on only one or a handful of building end-uses such as lighting, controls, HVAC replacement.
  
• Performance based energy efficiency projects that include energy service contracts that shift at least 50% of the measured performance risk to a third party or pay-for-performance utility programs, that utilize ongoing meter-based third party IPMVP Option-B or C meter-based advanced measurement and verification)
  

This protocol allows for the appropriate scaling of these development tasks, with respect to the balance of technical rigor and risk, and provides a standardized engineering framework that does not overly burden the project budget.

Basic / Performance Retrofit