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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 Performance...
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:
- Checklists covering all the key action steps you'll need to earn the credit.
- Hot tips to give you shortcuts and avoid pitfalls.
- Cost tips to assess what a credit will actually cost, and how to make it affordable.
- Ideas for going beyond LEED with best practices.
- All checklists organized by project phase.
- On-the-fly suggestions on useful items from the Documentation Toolkit, Resources, and Credit Language.
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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:
- Easy access to the official LEED credit language with just a couple of clicks.
- 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:
- Organizations that can give information or help on a credit.
- Standards or studies that are key reference points for credits and prerequisites.
- Articles that help explain important topics.
- Key documents or references for credit inputs.
- Software tools you can use to run calculations or simulations.
Documentation Toolkit
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:
- Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
- Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
- Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
- Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
- Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
- Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.
24 Comments
Is this credit easy to earn outside from the US?
This credit seems so easy to earn, but maybe only in the USA territories! In Europe we haven´t any Energy providers that are 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, how is it possible to proceed?
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jan 27 2010
Pietro, you can earn the credit simply by buying 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 through the U.S. market.
You could also earn the credit by showing that RECs you buy in Europe are equivalent to Green-e, but this would certainly be more work.
Lana Malone replied Director of Business Development- Green Building Division, Renewable Choice Energy Feb 03 2010
Hi Pietro!
You can purchase 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 for any USGBC registered LEED project from a Green-e power provider. We have provided RECs for over 1,000 LEED projects in the U.S. and internationally! Please check us out if you'd like a quote for your project.
http://www.renewablechoice.com
lmalone@renewablechoice.com
Erik Bergstrom replied Green Building Associate Feb 16 2010
What about the requirement that you have to buy from the local utility if offered? This seems like an unfair stipulation because it is often 10X as expensive than wholesale RECs. Often these utilities are simply buy the RECs, marking them up, and reselling, right? I also don't see this requirement shown in the LEED online form. What do you suggest? Can anyone buy RECs, regardless of the utility having a green power option??
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Feb 17 2010
Erik, where do you see this requirement?
I haven't heard of it.... and I don't *think* it's something we say on LEEDuser. If it's a requirement, it would be news to me.
The advice we give about working with utilities is that they *can* be a convenient and price-competitive option—but shop around.
Marcus Sheffer replied Energy & Environmental Consultant, 7group Feb 24 2010
Erik,
Tristen is correct there is no requirement in LEED to buy green power from your local utility, that is just one option. Anyone can buy RECs and it does not matter who you buy your power from of where you are located. You can buy them for other purposes like carbon offsets. I believe that many utilities engage in long, term power purchase agreements for their green power offerings so they would not be resellers in that case. Some of these utility programs offering green power are the result of a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in their state which requires them to provide a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources. In those cases there are no RECs since RECs by 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 are renewable sources outside those required by an RPS. So for LEED be careful to make sure that the gren power product meets the Green-e Standard as some utility programs and even some RECs may not.
Erik Bergstrom replied Green Building Associate Mar 04 2010
That's good news. I was interpreting the wording in the reference guide "If 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 power cannot be purchased through a local utility... the team can purchase...RECs" (p328 bd&c) to mean that you had to buy from the utility if available. Though, I see no requirement for verification of this in the actual template. Also, in our case, we cannot purchase from the utility anyway because it is 10 times as expensive and therefore not affordable.
Price info available online
We just did some looking into costs and found this government page showing prices for green power programs from utilities by state: http://apps3.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/markets/pricing.shtml?page=1. The typical range seems to be 0.5 cents to 6 cents per 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..
We also got a quote of 0.2 to 0.3 cents per kWh for RECs. What are others finding? RECs seem consistently cheaper--are many people choosing local green power anyway because it seems to have more integrity?
Marcus Sheffer replied Energy & Environmental Consultant, 7group Mar 29 2010
The link is to pricing from September 2008. Much has changed since then. 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. prices are typically under $0.005/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. and have been so for a while now. Price bottomed out a bit ago and I think is coming back up slightly but no where near the previous cost. Pricing is typically based on specificity. If any old REC is OK then the price is very low. The more specific your needs the higher the price. Want solar only RECs you will pay a significant premium. I do not see many of my clients choosing a utility offered green power product. I do see clients who want to buy something more local, like Pennsylvania wind, and are willing to pay a premium to do so.
Lana Malone replied Director of Business Development- Green Building Division, Renewable Choice Energy Mar 29 2010
Hi Nadav!
Mr. Sheffer is correct- utility pricing is typically has a higher premium than other voluntary REC providers- pricing is also much lower now than they were in 2008!
http://www.renewablechoice.com/business-LEED-green-power-calculator.html
Nadav Malin replied President, BuildingGreen, LLC Mar 30 2010
Thanks, Marcus. I'm not surprised to hear that utility programs are not being selected as often by your clients.
It seems that our figures are pretty well aligned. We found 0.2 to 0.3 cents per 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. for RECs, which matches up with your "less than 0.5 cents" figure.
Have you (or others) tried out the Renewable Choice calculator? What do you think?
Marcus Sheffer replied Energy & Environmental Consultant, 7group Mar 30 2010
I just tried it out Nadav. It calculates how many 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. of green power you need to buy for LEED and converts this to metric tons of CO2Carbon dioxide. It also calculates CO2 equivalents for households, trees planted, cars taken off the road, and avoided passenger miles. At the bottom of the report is a link to get a green power quote. So some useful information for folks who want to promote a green power purchase within their organization. This information can be obtained in many other places however and in a more comprehensive manner. So the usefulness of the information depends upon your need.
Renewable Energy Choice is a very active 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. seller which have been used on many LEED projects. They report more than 1000 LEED projects. In my experience they provide a quality product at a reasonable price.
Rob Watson replied Mar 30 2010
We got quoted less than 0.2 cents/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. for a project in Beijing from Carbon Solutions Group. This credit really is in reach now!
Lana Malone replied Director of Business Development- Green Building Division, Renewable Choice Energy Mar 30 2010
That's great, Rob! The Green Power credit(s) are so affordable right now, and such a very easy credit to achieve- while also making a huge environmental impact and supporting the wind power industry!
CBECS data (in lieu of energy simulation)
Hi all!
Is anyone familiar with using option 2 for estimating baseline energy use for EAc6 Green Power?
I have the link that takes me to the website but there are so many different tables available and I cannot find one that has data for Median Electrical Intensity by Building Type as shown in the Reference Guide (table 1, page 329).
Thank you.
Lana Malone replied Director of Business Development- Green Building Division, Renewable Choice Energy May 03 2010
Hi James!
The CBECSThe Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures. Commercial buildings include all buildings in which at least half of the floorspace is used for a purpose that is not residential, industrial, or agricultural, so they include building types that might not traditionally be considered "commercial," such as schools, correctional institutions, and buildings used for religious worship. CBECS data is used in LEED energy credits. table can be found at this link:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs/pdf/c10.pdf
It is Table C10- Electricity Consumption and Expenditure Intensities, 1999
Hope this helps!
-Lana
James Edward Davis replied May 03 2010
Wow Lana, thanks.
You saved me a lot of digging!
James
Marcus Sheffer replied Energy & Environmental Consultant, 7group May 03 2010
Interesting that the 1999 CBECSThe Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures. Commercial buildings include all buildings in which at least half of the floorspace is used for a purpose that is not residential, industrial, or agricultural, so they include building types that might not traditionally be considered "commercial," such as schools, correctional institutions, and buildings used for religious worship. CBECS data is used in LEED energy credits. data is still being used when the 2003 CBECS data was available and the 2007 CBECS data will probably be released this year based on past availability. In my opinion this is an oversight in LEED 2009 and it should have been updated with the 2003 CBECS data. The newer data can be found at - http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs/cbecs2003/detailed_tables_2003/2003set...
Looks like some of the categories increased and some decreased. One could certainly argue that using 7 year old data is better than 11 year old data but I would only try that in my LEED submission if I saved considerably by using the 2003 data.
Gold Standard for this credit?
Dear All,
Would a renewable energy provider that has the Gold Standard for carbon offsets be considered similar to 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? We do not have any Green-E certified producers here in Turkey, but many Gold Standard certifications for wind power plants.
Mark LaCroix replied EVP, The CarbonNeutral Company Jun 09 2010
Omer,
The short answer to your question is that it depends on the project details. We do have projects in Turkey that meet your requirements. We’d be happy to provide details so please feel free to get in touch!
Mark.lacroix@carbonneutral.com
Marcus Sheffer replied Energy & Environmental Consultant, 7group Jun 09 2010
I believe that international projects either must purchase 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. RECs or demonstrate that the RECs they have purchased would meet the Green-e Standard in order to earn EAc6. I don't know if the offsets you refer to meet it or not but getting a copy of the Standard and having the Gold Standard supplier help you with the comparison would be the first step. Obviously the first path is the one of least resistance in the LEED certification review process.
Green Power calculations
I am working on a project that is providing a large array of solar thermal for heating and water heating. We need to achieve the Green Power credit as well. Do I get to subtract my on-site green power production from the energy use in the energy model before doing calculations for amount of Green Power the client will need to purchase?
Marcus Sheffer replied Energy & Environmental Consultant, 7group Jun 22 2010
Your solar thermal system would be included in the proposed energy model and thereby reduce the overall energy use and cost. Assuming that some of the energy being offset by your solar system is electricity then the amount of electricity usage would be lower making your EAc6 purchase smaller. If your solar thermal purchase is only off-setting natural gas (or some other fossil fuel) use however, then your electricity usage would not change. So the amount of electricity you need to purchase would be based on electricity usage from the energy model after subtracting your on-site solar thermal contribution.
Charles Hendricks replied Architect, The Gaines Group, PLC Jun 22 2010
Thanks, that is the answer I was hoping to get!
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