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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...
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19 Comments
EP
Hi
I would like a clearifying how we get the 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. credit for EAc6. Is the 70% based on the whole building's electricity consumption (including tenants spaces) or just the Core and Shell gross square footageSum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building including basements, mezzanine and intermediate-floored tiers, and penthouses with headroom height of 7.5 ft or greater. It is measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating buildings, but excluding covered walkways, open roofed-over areas, porches and similar spaces, pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, roof overhangs, and similar features. (as for the original credit)? Is it a problem it the owner provide the tenants with electricity and then bill them the cost?
The purchase requirement is just for the CS portion of the building. The credit language indicates that you only need to buy green power for the CS square footage of the building. Same applies 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..
Depending upon how the green power is purchased the owner may not be providing the tenants with electricity. In the case of purchasing RECs you are not really buying electricity but instead are buying the environmental attributes.
Green Power -contract / purchase date
Is it possible for the owner to sign the 2 year contract and begin energy consumption before the building is completed and occupied?
Anthony, I don't think this is advisable. I would date the beginning of the contract to the date of occupancy. However, I'm not sure there is any real difference in outcome so if you were stuck in that situation for some reason, I think you should be able to get the credit approved anyway.
Electricity usage x gross square footage
Hello,
I have a Core and Shell building under certification that has 5 underground parking floors. According to LEED Reference Guide, page 612, "projects which contain underground and/or structured parking, may exclude that area from the gross square footageSum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building including basements, mezzanine and intermediate-floored tiers, and penthouses with headroom height of 7.5 ft or greater. It is measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating buildings, but excluding covered walkways, open roofed-over areas, porches and similar spaces, pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, roof overhangs, and similar features. used for the calculation." Therefore, I have excluded it, since the FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. would be super-dimensioned if I included this area in the GSF. The problem is when I get to the EAc6 calculation. Since my GSF doesn´t include the parking, I am excluding its electricity consumption from the calculation. (GSF - USF)*35%.
If I change the GSF only for this calculation and include the parking area, the template will accuse the difference between the credits. Do you have any idea how to proceed in this case?
Many thanks
Anderson, the page you're referring to is part of the Reference Guide's instructions on determining default occupancy counts, if you need to do so. Those instructions are not intended to be used throughout your LEED documentation.
I'm not sure if the LEED Online form has changed recently, but we could enter the baseline building consumption (Owner portion of the electricity consumption). We calculated it for non-parking level based on the GSF and BOMA-Area (min 15%) and added the electrical users like garage fans, lighting etc. . That was our baseline for calculating the 35% / 70%. This approach was OK for the reviewers. We have done that in 4 LEED CS projects so far. To document it we have submitted a spread sheet to show the calculation with a brief explanation. Also be prepared to explain the differences between USF, conditioned, occupiable and regular occupied space.
Tristan,
In this case I don´t have the real occupancy and will have to use the FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. provided by the Appendix. Once again, if I use different GSFs, I will have different results for all the credits related. If I include the underground parking in my GSF calculation, I will need to have more Bike racks, my water consumption will be oversized, etc...
According to the GBCI website and our past experiences, you can exclude parking area from the GSF. http://www.gbci.org/main-nav/building-certification/resources/fees/curre...
"Project Square footages to be used for Certification Fee pricing should be based upon the definition of Gross Floor AreaGross floor area (based on ASHRAE definition) is the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate‐floored tiers, and penthouses wi th headroom height of 7.5 ft (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements m ust be taken from the exterior 39 faces of exterior walls OR from the centerline of walls separating buildings, OR (for LEED CI certifying spaces) from the centerline of walls separating spaces. Excludes non‐en closed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. ( Note that while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not a part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be a part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits.) which is provided in the LEED 2009 MPR Supplemental Guidance. However, all parking areas (whether underground, structured, or at grade) should be excluded from the square footage calculations used to determine the certification fee. Other spaces such as common areas, mechanical spaces, and circulation should be included in the gross square footageSum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building including basements, mezzanine and intermediate-floored tiers, and penthouses with headroom height of 7.5 ft or greater. It is measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating buildings, but excluding covered walkways, open roofed-over areas, porches and similar spaces, pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, roof overhangs, and similar features. of the building."
This is why we have excluded parking areas from the total GSF and calculated the FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. based on this number. Also we always used the default occupancy count, which was never an issue.
In regards to the green power calculation as I explained before, we calculated the buildings energy consumption. As for the energy consumption of the parking garage, we have garage lighting and ventilation fans etc. separated out in the whole building calculation (ASHREA 90.1). That allows us to show the consumption related to the GSF and the parking separate. We then just add the parking's energy consumption as explained before. If all this doesn't work with the new LEED Online forms (we worked with the Beta-Version) then use the special circumstances section to explain it and upload your calcs. We have been advised from the LEED Online team and the GBCI to do so.
Thanks a lot!
Outside of the US
In Sweden the criteria for certified Green Power (run by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation) does not match 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. criteria (large scale hydropower built before 1996 is allowed if the supplier funds money in a fund with the aim to reducing damage on nature due to hydropower. The fund is managed by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservatien ).
How should we do to fullfill this credit?
And is it possible to buy RECs in Europe?
If the hydro plant does not match 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. criteria (does not have to be certified necessarily as long as the criteria is met) then RECs are the only option. Yes, Renewable Choice Energy, based in the USA - one of the many REC providers - says a project could easily buy their RECs for a European, or anywhere in the world, projects.
- Gunnar, Principal, Fore Solutions
Hi Pia!
We would be happy to put together a quote for your international LEED project if you are still looking to purchase RECs for EAc6! Please let me know! lmalone@renewablechoice.com
for international LEED project located in Hong kong, i'm trying to achieve this credit with landfill gas but the company does not have e-cert. Is there a way for to achieve this credit or is it possible to achieve a credit under innovative design?
Hi Billy,
You can use certain carbon offsets from local renewable energy projects to fulfill the requirements of this credit. We have an extensive portfolio of credits in APAC. Our clients in the region prefer this approach because it allows them to invest in renewable energy ‘closer to home’ rather than investing in US based RECs. I’d be happy to provide a quote and put you in touch with our team in the region. Mark.lacroix@carbonneutral.com
Billy, I don't know of a way for you to earn this credit without a 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. certification for the landfill gas. An innovation credit would also not be an option, because an innovation credit has to cover something that's not covered by an existing LEED credit. In this case, green power is covered by EAc6.
Hi Billy-
I agree with Tristan. The LEED CS 2009 Green Power credit requirements state specifically to:
Engage in at least a 2-year renewable energy contract to provide at least 35% of the core and shell building’s electricity from renewable sources, as defined by the Center for Resource Solutions’ 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. Energy product certification requirements.
An additional ID credit can be achieved by offsetting 70% of the core and shell building's electricity as well. Please let me know if I can help out or put any quotes together for you!
lmalone@renewablechoice.com
Lana
Hi Lana,
In the LEED 2009 BD&C Reference Guide, '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. is available to projects that purchase 100% of their electricity from renewable sources;'
Could you please clarify the 70% mentioned above, is it Version 2.2?
Thanks,
Anu
Hi Anu,
There is actually an addenda that states 70% should be used to achieve the 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. credit- see page 21 at this link:
http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6392
Let me know if this helps!
Cheers,
Lana
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