LEED AP BD+C Practice Questions: Energy and Atmosphere

Energy and Atmosphere is worth 18 of the 85 scored questions on the LEED AP BD+C exam, and it rises from 15 on the Green Associate paper. There are 18 questions below, one for each scored question this domain carries. At 18 of the 85 scored questions, this is the largest single domain on the paper, and it grows from 15 on the Green Associate exam. It is also where a decision taken early constrains a credit later: the compliance path chosen for the minimum energy efficiency prerequisite limits what enhanced energy efficiency can go on to earn.

It covers all five prerequisites, and Electrification, Peak Thermal Loads, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Enhanced Commissioning, Grid Interactive and Enhanced Refrigerant Management.

The largest domain on the paper, and the one where the prerequisites do the most work. Three of the four Platinum mandates live here, and a choice made in a prerequisite can cap what a credit will later pay.

18 Energy and Atmosphere practice questions

Attempt all of them before checking the explanations. Write your answers down — deciding in your head and then reading the explanation is how a candidate convinces themselves they knew something they did not.

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Welcome to the LEED AP BD+C  practice quiz. Enter your details, then work through all 18 questions — we'll email you the score and a full explanation for every question.

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1. A team is assembling its submission for EAp1 Operational Carbon Projection and Decarbonization Plan. Its consultant has delivered annual figures expressed in source energy and broken out by fuel type only. What has to change before the estimate can be submitted to USGBC?

A. It must be converted to carbon using the emissions factor published for the project's grid region

B. It must be produced by a calibrated whole-building energy model rather than published data

C.It must be extended across 25 years to show the declining grid emissions factor

D. It must be reported in site energy and split by end use as well as by source

None

2. A project cannot satisfy the electrification route, so it must produce a decarbonization plan for the operational carbon prerequisite. What does that plan have to be?

A. A calibrated energy model projecting operational carbon annually across the building's full service life

B. A narrative of no more than two pages covering 25 years, describing retrofits with an approximate timeline and cost

C. A signed commitment to reach net zero operational carbon within 25 years of occupancy

D. It must be reported in site energy and split by end use as well as by source

None

3. Which statement correctly describes how a BD+C project determines the edition of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1 it may use for EAp2 Minimum Energy Efficiency?

A. The 2019 edition with Addendum cr is open only to projects certified before 1 January 2028

B. The 2019 edition may be used by any project as long as Addendum cr is left out

C. The 2019 edition with Addendum cr is open only to projects registered before 1 January 2028

D. The 2022 edition becomes compulsory for any project whose construction starts on or after 1 January 2028

None

4. A project documents EAp2 Minimum Energy Efficiency using the Energy Cost Budget method. The team later decides it would like to pursue EAc3 Enhanced Energy Efficiency through whole-building energy simulation measured against the published Performance Index targets. Why is that route unavailable?

A. The Energy Cost Budget method cannot be used alongside the 2022 edition, which the credit requires

B. The Energy Cost Budget method opens only the plug and process loads route inside the prescriptive option

C. Energy simulation opens only where the prerequisite was documented by the prescriptive method

D. The Energy Cost Budget method reports cost rather than site energy, so its results must first be reconverted

None

5. An owner is setting up fundamental commissioning for a new office building and asks the design team to confirm what EAp3 actually obliges the project to do. Which description is accurate?

A. The provider is designated during predesign and sample reviews a quarter of the completed contractor documentation before substantial completion

B. The building envelope sits outside fundamental commissioning and is picked up only where the project also pursues enhanced commissioning

C. The provider is designated by the end of design development, having commissioned at least two projects of equal or larger scope

D. A project whose mechanical systems are small may rely on the referenced standard's own commissioning exceptions to narrow the scope

None

6. A commercial project meters total building electricity and its submetered electrical end uses, and separately meters natural gas and district steam. Which combination of recording intervals and durations satisfies EAp4 Energy Metering and Reporting?

A. Electricity every 15 minutes, gas and steam monthly, 36 months of data, five years of reporting

B. Electricity every 15 minutes, gas and steam weekly, 12 months of data, five years of reporting

C. Every source every 15 minutes, with 12 months of data retained and five years of annual reporting

D. Electricity hourly, gas and steam monthly, 36 months of data, three years of annual reporting

None

7. A project's mechanical schedule specifies packaged rooftop units charged with R-410A, a refrigerant with a global warming potential of 2,088. What does EAp5 Fundamental Refrigerant Management require the team to do about it?

A. Compile a list of alternatives at or below 700 and review the options with the owner

B. Nothing further, because the prohibition in this prerequisite reaches only HCFCs such as R-22

C. Respecify the units with a refrigerant at or below 700 before the drawings are issued

D. Bring the project's total weighted average global warming potential down to at or below 80 per cent of the applicable benchmark

None

8. A New Construction project has no on-site combustion equipment of any kind. Space heating is delivered by air-source heat pumps of 800,000 Btu/h capacity operating at a coefficient of performance of 2.0, and service water heating by electric resistance heaters of 200,000 Btu/h capacity at a coefficient of performance of 1.0. Does the project meet EAc1 Option 1, No On-Site Combustion?

A. No, because the average of the two coefficients of performance is 1.5, below the threshold

B. No, because electric resistance water heating is treated as on-site combustion for this credit

C. Yes, because the absence of on-site combustion satisfies the option whatever the coefficients of performance are

D. Yes, because the capacity-weighted average is exactly 1.8 and the threshold is a minimum

None

9. Two design schemes are compared under EAc2 Reduce Peak Thermal Loads, Option 4, using the energy simulation path. Scheme A returns a peak thermal load Performance Index of 0.45 and Scheme B returns 0.32. Which statement is correct?

A. Scheme A is the stronger performer, because the index expresses how far the design has improved on the baseline

B. Scheme B is the stronger performer and reaches a higher tier, because a lower index means a smaller peak load

C. Both schemes sit on the same tier, because the lowest step of the ladder is not reached until the index falls under 0.3

D. Neither scheme qualifies, because this path awards nothing until the index rises above 0.5 against the baseline

None

10. A New Construction team documents the energy prerequisite through Appendix G and models a 30% improvement beyond its Performance Index target. The figure includes the output of the rooftop photovoltaic array, and the team expects the top of Enhanced Energy Efficiency. Why is that expectation wrong?

A. On-site photovoltaic output may not be counted in this credit at any stage, so the improvement has to be restated with the array excluded from the model entirely.

B. Including generation is permitted, but an improvement counted that way must then be expressed in site energy rather than in the future source energy metric.

C. The generation counts only once its environmental attributes have been retired for the project, and that retirement is documented in a different credit.

D. The figure belongs on the ladder that includes on-site generation, where the top of the credit needs a 100% improvement.

None

11. A New Construction team lists the ASHRAE 90.1 Section 11 measures it has achieved and proposes to convert all of them into Enhanced Energy Efficiency through the prescriptive route: improved HVAC, improved service water heating, an upgraded envelope, on-site renewables and continuous energy monitoring. Which of those five will the credit decline to count?

A. The renewables only, because on-site generation is never counted as an efficiency measure

B. The envelope and the monitoring, because both are assessed under the prerequisite instead

C. None of them, provided each measure is documented against its own Section 11 reference

D. The envelope, the renewables and the monitoring, because each is already rewarded by another credit

None

12. In Renewable Energy, an off-site renewable electricity supply falls into Tier 3 rather than Tier 2 when which condition applies?

A. The supply contract runs for a shorter term than the ten years the credit expects.

B. The certified generating asset reached commercial operation up to fifteen years ago.

C. The certificates were issued more than eighteen months before the project submits its initial certification application.

D. The generating asset sits outside the utility service territory that serves the project.

None

13. A Core and Shell project estimates total building energy use at 4,000,000 kWh per year, and estimates that the meters serving base building systems will account for 700,000 kWh per year. The owner contracts 480,000 kWh per year of qualifying renewable supply. What percentage does the project claim in Renewable Energy?

A .68.6%

B. 12%

C. 48%

D. 274%

None

14. A Core and Shell owner designates an independent commissioning provider in predesign, and the provider completes enhanced commissioning of the MEP systems to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 202-2024, sampling 25% of contractor documentation and attending four construction milestone meetings. The owner declines to commission the building enclosure beyond what the prerequisite required. What does the project earn in Enhanced Commissioning?

A. The same recognition New Construction would receive, because the standard and the tasks performed are identical.

B. Nothing, because Core and Shell recognises enhanced MEP commissioning only alongside enclosure commissioning.

C. The lower enclosure achievement, because thorough MEP work is accepted in place of enclosure work.

D. The full achievement, because the enclosure was already commissioned when the project satisfied the fundamental commissioning prerequisite.

None

15. A project models a peak electrical demand of 850 kW and wants to reach the higher of the two electric energy storage thresholds in Grid Interactive. What is the minimum storage capacity it must install?

A. 170 kWh

B. 850 kWh

C. 340 kWh

D. 1,700 kWh

None

16. What does the power resilience option of Grid Interactive require a project to demonstrate?

A. Islanded operation of the whole building for at least 24 hours, from any on-site source, with a manual changeover procedure documented in the operations plan.

B. A minimum one-year contract with a qualified provider that intends multiyear renewal, covering the loads the project nominates as critical.

C. Islanded operation of critical loads for at least 72 hours, from on-site renewable generation together with storage, transferred automatically.

D. A plan to shed at least 10% of peak demand for one hour on request, verified against interval meter data for critical loads.

None

17. A project's HVAC refrigerants consist of a chiller holding 100 lb of R-134a, with a global warming potential of 1,430, and a carbon dioxide system holding 900 lb of R-744, with a global warming potential of 1. The applicable benchmark for HVAC is 700. What does the low-GWP route give this project?

A. The weighted average is about 144, below half the benchmark, so the deeper of the two thresholds is met.

B. The weighted average is about 716, above the benchmark, so neither threshold is met.

C. The weighted average clears the 80% threshold but not the 50% one, because the chiller charge is compared with the benchmark on its own.

D. Nothing on this route, because a refrigerant above 700 rules the project out of the low-GWP option.

None

18. A Core and Shell project targeting Platinum electrifies its space heating with heat pumps above the required efficiency, but keeps a gas-fired service water heater. The team intends to skip the decarbonization plan narrative on the grounds that the project is designed for electrification. Is that reasoning sound?

A. No — only the top Electrification achievement satisfies that path, so the plan is still owed and a mandate is missed.

B. Yes — the plan may be omitted, because any Electrification achievement satisfies the design for electrification path in the prerequisite.

C. Yes — the plan may be omitted, but Platinum is out of reach anyway, because the renewable energy mandate cannot be met without on-site generation.

D. No — the plan is still required, but Platinum remains available, because Electrification is a mandate for New Construction only.

None

Time's up

Recall, Application, Analysis — and why it matters here

The candidate handbook names three cognitive levels: Recall, Application and Analysis. It publishes no split between them, so nobody can tell you what share of your paper will be which. What we can tell you is that only the first is fixed by more reading. Past a point, re-reading the material stops helping and worked problems start.

Each answer in this set is tagged with the level it was written at, so you can see which kind you are losing. If your errors cluster in Recall, revise. If they cluster in Application and Analysis, do more questions — those are the only thing that moves them.

What these questions test

Where candidates lose marks in this domain

• Submitting source energy where the prerequisite asks for site energy. The operational carbon estimate also has to be broken down by source and end use.
• Turning the decarbonization plan into an energy model or binding net-zero promise. It is a short 25-year retrofit narrative with approximate timing and cost.
• Using certification date or construction start for the ASHRAE edition pivot. The rule is tied to registration date.
• Choosing a prerequisite compliance path without considering the credit it unlocks later. The EAp2 path directly limits EAc3.
• Importing enhanced commissioning requirements into fundamental commissioning. Provider timing and review percentages are different.
• Applying 15-minute recording to every energy source. Electricity and nonelectric sources have different intervals.
• Reading GWP 700 as an outright refrigerant ban. Above 700 triggers an alternatives evaluation; HCFCs are the prohibition.
• Averaging heat-pump COP values without weighting them by capacity. The credit uses a capacity-weighted average.
• Reading a Performance Index as a percentage improvement. A lower peak-load index represents better performance.
• Using the renewable-inclusive efficiency figure on the efficiency-only ladder. Enhanced Energy Efficiency has separate ladders.
• Counting measures already rewarded elsewhere. Certain envelope, renewable and monitoring measures are excluded from the prescriptive efficiency route.
• Using whole-building energy as the denominator for Core and Shell renewable calculations. The base-building rule is different.
• Assuming strong MEP commissioning alone earns Core and Shell enhanced commissioning. Enclosure commissioning is foundational there.
• Using thermal-storage ratios for electrical storage. Grid Interactive applies different sizing ratios.
• Confusing power resilience with demand response. Resilience requires critical loads, on-site renewables, storage and islanded operation.
• Averaging refrigerant GWPs without weighting them by charge. The low-GWP route uses a charge-weighted average.
• Assuming partial electrification eliminates the decarbonization plan. The prerequisite path depends on the top Electrification achievement.

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