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Easy to research
Pick up the phone, call the local utility and a couple of green power providers—companies that sell renewable energy credits (RECs), which provide funding to renewable energy generation, supporting its development. Give them your project’s estimated energy consumption. Sit back and receive estimates.
That’s all it takes to find out what a purchase of offsite renewable energy will cost, so be sure to consider it—you might be pleasantly surprised. The credit requires you to offset only a percentage of your electricity consumption with RECs to earn points (see diagram at right). You can make a stronger environmental statement and earn an extra Exemplary PerformanceIn...
Step-by-step credit help
Got the gist of the LEED credit but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Members get:
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Credit language straight from USGBC
Need to check up on the exact LEED credit language from the LEED Rating System on the fly? LEEDuser includes the verbatim language. Members get:
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- On the jobsite without your bulky LEED Reference Guide? Check up on the credit language details here.
- Credit language content is used by permission of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Your credit-by-credit reference library
Why waste time chasing down referenced standards and supporting resources when LEEDuser links you directly to the ones you need? LEEDuser has gathered all the best tools out there and organized them by credit for easy reference. Members get links to:
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Documentation Toolkit
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:
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- Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
- Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.
48 Comments
What to do if no EAc1.3?
I am trying to document this credit and we have not occupied the building for more than 3 months. So we are not able to document via the "Actual Consumption" route. However, to use the "Design Electricity Consumption" route, "The project space regulated electricity use for green power calculations are based on the design energy cost from the Lighting Power Density section of EA Prerequisite 2 and the Design Case Energy Use from EA Credit1.3 Option 2. (Note: this option shall only be selected if EA Prerequisite 2 and EA Credit 1.3 are complete)." However, we did not complete EAc1.3. We have our Title 24/Energy Model since we are in CA. But this LEED Template explicitly says I have to have completed EAc1.3, which I have not. How do I document this credit since my project is purchasing 100% RECs for two years?
You can use option 2 to determine the quantity needed for the green power purchase.
The problem with trying to use the model is that it would not have been reviewed for any CI credits. You could try to submit it this way by selecting the special circumstances box on the form and follow an alternative compliance path.
Whole Building or Tenant Space
Our project team shows a recent update (Aug 11, 2011) requiring the purchase of green power to account for the "building" not the tenant space. Is anyone aware of a change in the requirement for LEED CI projects to account for the building rather than the tenant space?
Thomas, what update are you referring to? I am not aware of it. There was an 11/3/2010 addenda that actually clarified this credit as applying to the tenant space, not the building.
REC vendors for Singapore Project
For our Singapore projects, we need to buy RECA Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a certificate representing proof that a given unit of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. These certificates are able to be sold, traded, or bartered as environmental commodities, where an electricity consumer can buy the renewable energy attributes of electricty to support renewable energy, even if they are consuming generic grid-supplied electricity that may be supplied by nonrenewable sources. but are not sure where to start searching? Is it also true that the vendor can be from any country regardless where the project is located?
Please advice.
Yes- you can purchase RECs from a vendor from any country regardless of where the project is located. We've provided Green Power to over 2,000 LEED projects globally and would be happy to help. LMalone@renewablechoice.com
Green Power for LEED-CI Retail
Can anyone confirm that Green Power is 2 points for LEED-CI Retail instead of 5 points for LEED-CI? That is what the LEED-CI Retail rating system indicates, but it is such a significant discrepancy, anyone know why? I there an assumption that LEED-R projects will likely be smaller and therefore Green Power is too easy to achieve and therefore weighted differently?
Hi Linda- Green Power is in fact 2 points for LEED-CI Retail instead of 5. Your project can however achieve an additional ID credit for exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. if they purchase double the required amount for EAc4. Please let me know if we can help! LMalone@renewablechoice.com
https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=9882
CI on site Green Power?
Is it possible to install onsite renewable energy that met the energy production requirements for energy usage of CI EA4 in lieu of purchasing Green Power?
Robin, I don't think so. I think that for LEED-CI, this would fall under SSc1.
Equivalent to Green-E
Has anyone defined this? We are looking at purchasing RECs directly from one or more schools or other non-profits that have not sold RECS. We have an independent who has experience with renewables that would do the "certification" but want to be sure what he does will comply. Has this been done before?
Wayne, I think you'd want to review the Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. standard for RECs, from the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS). It is fairly technical but also readable for a layperson—someone with renewables experience should have no problem with it.
Whether or not this path has been successfully followed, and how projects have gone about it, I can't comment on. Given the low cost of RECs on the open market, I doubt it has been attractive to many project teams. Anyone?
We have achieved this credit on a couple of non-US projects. To show equivalence with Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. was an initial consideration, especially since the availability of renewable energy was given or supplied to the building in any case. But to show compliance would have been too time consuming. This starts with figuring the kWhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu. production, which you can assume and ends with the details of defining renewable energy. So we bought RECs.
Hi Susann,
Our project location is Singapore.As you have mentioned that your projects were non-US projects , do you have any recommendations for REC sellers outside US and how to go about it?
We bought the RECs from a company out of Chicago, USA. They charge your credit card as the most convenient way for payment. www.Carbonsolutionsgroup.com
They will help you figure out how much you need and send you a contract. Very responsive people. My contact was Scott Maloney.
Thanks a lot Susann.
Actual Power Usage
Hi,
We are in the midst of our final submission and we have decided to submit for this credit.
The building just went online end of January. We have actual energy usage for past 4 months (Feb- End of May) when the building first went online.
We were wondering if we can extrapolate the energy usage for the year and use that as the baseline for "EAc4: Option 1: Actual Usage."
Let me know when you get a chance, thanks!
Richard, it sounds like you're complicating things for youself. Why not use the results of EAc1 energy consumption expectations, as Option 1 calls for?
If you don't have an energy simulation for the space than you might want to use a green power contractor, which does green power supply based on percentage of your actual consumption. So what every you consume in a month, you will be purchasing 50% green power. I'm guessing you don't want to use the 8 kWhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu./sf year, because it's more than you actually will be using?
I am trying to document this credit and we have not occupied the building for more than 3 months. So we are not able to document via the "Actual Consumption" route. However, to use the "Design Electricity Consumption" route, "The project space regulated electricity use for green power calculations are based on the design energy cost from the Lighting Power Density section of EA Prerequisite 2 and the Design
Case Energy Use from EA Credit1.3 Option 2. (Note: this option shall only be selected if EA Prerequisite 2 and EA Credit 1.3 are complete)." However, we did not complete EAc1.3. We have our Title 24/Energy Model since we are in CA. But this LEED Template explicitly says I have to have completed EAc1.3, which I have not. How do I document this credit since my project is purchasing 100% RECs for two years?
green power - purchased percentage
Our client owns the building and occupies 50% of the square footage of a singularly metered building.
The owner (our client) signed a contract to purchase green power for 30% of the total building's usage. So the math would be if the owner is buying enough green power to offset 30% of the entire building that would be equivalent to 58% of the amount of their energy.
Did I explain that well enough without righting a novel?
The question is, will that fly? I guess you could arque that the amount of space does not dictate the energy usage, and that would be correct, but
I am trying to salvage the agreement the owner already made.
Thanks
Tony, that's not going to fly in and of itself. There are two compliance options for this credit (see language above), and so you can either look at energy cost under EAc1 or use a straight kWhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu./sf figure. Maybe the situation can be salvaged, but look at those measures to determine that.
Green Power - India
As a wind turbine manufacturing company, we have wind mills installed all over the country. In this regard, we would like to pursue for the Green power credit under EA c4.
As required by the credit, we can establish two-year contract with the power distribution company to provide 50% of building’s electricity from renewable sources. But in India no Green power is Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. certified, also no accounting firm is certified under Green-e to do third party verification on the Green-e standards of the renewable energy source. In this case, is it acceptable to have a third party verification done by a recognized audit/ accounting firms or a government body in the country? Please advice.
S, an auditing firm should in theory be able to take the Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. standard and verify that a renewable energy source in India meets the standard. This approach isn't taken very often so there isn't a lot of precedent, but I don't see why you couldn't do this.
Green Power Contract
Hello,
I am not sure, if I got a statement correct in the checklist / pre-design section: There is written "You can choose to purchase two years’ worth of green power at occupancy, rather than pay monthly or yearly. In this case, you would purchase double the percentage of assumed annual electricity consumption to satisfy the credit’s two-year commitment. For example, a LEED-CI project would purchase either 16 kWhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu. per square foot or 100% of actual electricity consumption."
Does that mean that I can also show a contract for one year buying 100% green power instead of a 2-year contract with 50% for credit compliance? That would really help in one of my projects as we only have the possibility for one-year contracts with the power supplier there.
I am looking forward to an answer and I already say THANK YOU for your help!
Hi Christian,
To achieve the Green Power LEED credits, you can opt to purchase the total kWhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu. needed for 100% over 2 years upfront. For instance, if you have a 100,000 ft2 project that would like to pursue the Green Power LEED credit and ID credit, 100,000 ft2 x 16 kWh/ft2 x 2 years, a total of 3,200,000 would be needed. You could sign a single contract to purchase the bulk amount needed upfront.
We have worked with nearly 2,000 LEED projects to achieve the Green Power LEED credit, and I'd be happy to help you out if interested!
LMalone@renewablechoice.com
Thanks- I hope this helped.
Lana
Renewable Choice Energy
Would this also be possible for a project in the Czech Republic?
As long as the project is registered with the USGBC, the same rules apply. We have provided green power to several international projects, so please let me know if I can help.
Thanks!
Can you help for the project in India which is registered with IGBC (Indian Green Building Council)?
Green Power
If I purchase my Green Power RECS and then don't submit for say 9 months will the contract still cover my project timeline?
Hi Holly,
Yes, you can purchase Green Power RECs at any point from the initial registration of the project, up until the final submission of the project. As long as the energy usage or square footage of the project does not change, you should have no problem. Hope this helps!
-Lana Malone
Lmalone@renewablechoice.com
non-project specific RECs
is RECs necessarily project-specific? Can a company purchase RECs that is not specifed for the new office outfit and use them to acheive this credit?
NOT SURE I raised this Q before and here is what I got as an answer "Technically, the building or project owner would ‘own’ the RECs. For example, if they purchased 100% of the energy use for their building, the building owner would ‘own’ the rights of the environmental attributes of the renewable energy going online. They could promote this to their clients and say that 100% of the energy usage if offset with wind power, however, the individual clients could not promote them to their customers, as they would not have ownership. However, most tenants in a LEED EB typically pursue LEED CI and they would offset their own energy usage as well" In practical terms a LEED Certified building would provide 5 Credits under CI-SS so it maybe a wash with a non-certified building and 4 credits under CI for green power.
The theme that I have generally heard around this is that you need to be sure that the green power you buy is "allocated" to the project building, or in other words, the green power cannot be double-counted. For example if the company owns 10 buildings and buys enough green power to offset energy from half of those, it can't claim at every building that all the energy use has been offset. It would have to claim for every building that 50% was offset. This is fairly common-sense, but important to note because it's not always followed.
That is what I understood as well. What I was mentioning before is that if you are in an existing building you get 5 Credits under SS automatically if this building is LEED certified and 4 points more if you buy the Green Power credits under a CI LEED. So it helps for CI if you are in a certified buildings as these 5 credits under SS are than free credits. Of course on the end it depends on what rent one pays in a certified vs. non certified building.
John,
To clairfy: are you saying that if a LEED CI project is located in a building that went through LEED EB and purchased RECs to offset 100% of the building's energy use that the CI project would not automatically receive the 4 points for purchasing green power and would have to buy additional RECs to qualify for the credit?
The point is if you are in a LEED EB Building than you automatically get credit SS Option 1 (5 credits). So from that point of view it is a head start that may be equal to Green power being bought seperately. My interpretation is if the LEED-EB uses green power as part of the certification than you cannot buy add. power credit as CI. If yr LEED EB does not include green power than you can buy the green power under CI and get the best of all (5 credits under EB and 4-5 more under Green Power). That is how I understand the LEED rating system. Would need to communicate with Lana Malone on this if I am correct on this or not. This is from a credit point of view as I understand it.
LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. gets you UP to 5(6) Credits fom 25-100% so I would guess that if EBOM certification does not cover 100% than you get the SS credits (with less than 100% Green Power) and under CI you may buy the difference or all again if the difference is not allocated in equal % to the building. Best way is to contact "lana" at malone@renewablechoice.com to find out how to otimize this between EBOM and CI.
John,
Thanks for the reply
Green Power RECs and Non-US Projects
We have a LEED-CI project in China, and are seriously considering pursuing Green Power due to the relatively low cost quotes we've received from US-based Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. REC vendors. However, does anyone have experiences with USGBC accepting non-US LEED projects buying RECs?
Hi Derek,
I have worked with several non-US LEED projects to achieve the Green Power credit for EAc6, including a project in China, which was accepted by the USGBC. Let me know if you have any questions!
Lana, we intending to do the same for a project in China and I would appreciate if you can let me know REC Vendors that offer these into China. Our project is relatively small and would roughly require 170,000 kW/h to be purchased for the 2-year period. If you cannot provide any vendors, a budget estimate would be good enough for now in order to evaluate this credit compared to other credits that will have additonal cost involved.
John, you don't need to use a Chinese RECA Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a certificate representing proof that a given unit of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. These certificates are able to be sold, traded, or bartered as environmental commodities, where an electricity consumer can buy the renewable energy attributes of electricty to support renewable energy, even if they are consuming generic grid-supplied electricity that may be supplied by nonrenewable sources. vendor, FYI. As long as you buy Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. certified RECs, you meet the LEED requirements. They can be purchased on the U.S. market if that is more convenient.
Thanks, I found some vendors already. Seems pretty check. I don;t know how they do it though
Our project is also in China, yet most Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. RECA Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a certificate representing proof that a given unit of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. These certificates are able to be sold, traded, or bartered as environmental commodities, where an electricity consumer can buy the renewable energy attributes of electricty to support renewable energy, even if they are consuming generic grid-supplied electricity that may be supplied by nonrenewable sources. projects seem all are located in USA. Our Client wants relevance, if she is to buy REC, she wants to associate it with a renewable energy project in China. Is this possible?
Secondly, can carbon off-setting be used as an alternative for this credit's compliance?
Need to do some research on this first.
I seems to me that Carbon Off-setting only works in EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.. To buy RECA Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a certificate representing proof that a given unit of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. These certificates are able to be sold, traded, or bartered as environmental commodities, where an electricity consumer can buy the renewable energy attributes of electricty to support renewable energy, even if they are consuming generic grid-supplied electricity that may be supplied by nonrenewable sources.'s for CI and associate with a renewable energy project in China seems feasible to me.
Thank you John, yes in anticipation for your feedback, we started looking around for Green-eGreen-e is a program established by the Center for Resource Solutions to both promote green electricity products and provide consumers with a rigorous and nationally recognized method to identify those products. RECA Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a certificate representing proof that a given unit of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. These certificates are able to be sold, traded, or bartered as environmental commodities, where an electricity consumer can buy the renewable energy attributes of electricty to support renewable energy, even if they are consuming generic grid-supplied electricity that may be supplied by nonrenewable sources. vendors with a project in China....
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