Following the last bulleted item, add the following text as a new paragraph:"To qualify as an eligible on-site system, the fuel source must meet one of the following conditions: the fuel source must be wholly contained/produced on-site; the project team must demonstrate full ownership of the fuel source, including ownership of all its environmental attributes; or, if the fuel source is not owned, and in cases where use of a substitute, non-renewable fuel is possible, projects must enter into a 2-year contract for purchase of the renewable fuel source, with an ongoing commitment to renew for a period of 10 years total."
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Credit language
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Requirements
Use on-site renewable energy systems to offset building energy costs. Calculate project performance by expressing the energy produced by the renewable systems as a percentage of the building’s annual energy cost and use the table below to determine the number of points achieved. Use the building annual energy cost calculated in EA Credit 1: Optimize Energy Performance or the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey database to determine the estimated electricity use.The minimum renewable energy percentage for each point threshold is as follows:
Pilot ACPs Available
The following pilot alternative compliance path is available for this credit. See the pilot credit library for more information. EApc95: Alternative Energy Performance Metric ACPWhat does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
See all forum discussions about this credit »Addenda
11/1/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
5/9/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
In the first bullet, change "200%" to "100%", so that it reads, "RECs equal to 100% of the system\'s..."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/1/2012
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
Our Campus has a 780 kW PV system installed as a joint venture with a Utility, which was made possible by partial funding from the sale of the REC\'s. The system is installed on 10 existing random building rooftops, with another 136 kW phase nearly commissioned on/near a sports field. We pay a small kWh premium, and will take full ownership after 20 years. PV output is dedicated for campus use, utilizing a combination of direct building connections and connections to the campus owned grid. We would like to apply for EAc2 on a campus basis for approximately 9 separate building projects that do not include their own individual PV installations. The cost to buy REC\'s for 10 years for the entire campus system is prohibitive under our current construction budgets. We propose that individual LEED Building Projects apply for EAC2 using the existing onsite PV renewable source, and buy 10-year REC\'s for 100% of the power claimed on the Template, as qualifying on-site renewable energy. The project REC\'s would be redeemed and solely retained by the individual Building Projects, and would not be shared for use on any other projects. Would purchasing REC\'s then restore the "associated environmental benefit" to the on-site generated renewable project energy claimed; and meet the sustainable intent of the credit as indicated in the CIR Ruling dated 7/20/2009?
Ruling:
The CIR Ruling dated 7/20/2009 (#2616), states that if the project sold renewable energy certificates associated with the on-site renewable energy system, the team may not take credit for the system under EAc2, since the system would have no associated environmental benefit. The project teams approach of purchasing 10-year REC\'s for 100% of the power claimed on the Template, to restore the associated environmental benefit is acceptable. The project must provide sufficient documentation to ensure the portion of the on-site renewable energy system designated for each building is not used on other projects. Additionally, the project team should provide documentation, including contractual terms, to verify the purchase of the necessary volume of REC\'s. The project team may not apply any of the REC\'s purchased to restore the associated environmental benefits of the on-site renewable energy system for the purposes of achieving EAc2 towards achieving EAc6, Green Power.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/1/2014
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
To encourage increasing levels of on-site renewable energy while recognizing that facilities with high process loads may not have the physical space available to install enough renewable energy equipment to meet the current LEED point thresholds, the following path is available for buildings where more than 60% of the estimated annual proposed building energy consumption comes from non-regulated loads.
Ruling:
1. Install on-site renewable energy systems such that the estimated annual renewable energy production meets or exceeds the kWh thresholds in the table below.
OR
2. Install on-site renewable energy systems such that the percentage of building’s annual regulated load energy cost produced by the renewable energy systems meets or exceeds the thresholds shown in the table below.
To achieve points, the project must use the option above that requires the greatest amount of renewable energy.
To help ensure high process load buildings are pursuing this alternative compliance path only after optimizing their energy performance, the total points achieved for EA credit 2, On-Site Renewable Energy, cannot exceed the points achieved for EA credit 1, Optimize Energy Performance.
Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and other environmental attributes associated with the renewable energy must be retired and cannot be sold or used to meet regulatory obligations.
EAc1 and EAc2: 1 Point - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 150,000 - % Regulated Load: 3%
EAc1 and EAc2: 2 Points - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 450,000 - % Regulated Load: 8%
EAc1 and EAc2: 3 Points - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 750,000 - % Regulated Load: 13%
EAc1 and EAc2: 4 Points - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 1,050,000 - % Regulated Load: 18%
EAc1 and EAc2: 5 Points - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 1,350,000 - % Regulated Load: 23%
EAc1 and EAc2: 6 Points - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 1,650,000 - % Regulated Load: 28%
EAc1 and EAc2: 7 Points - Renewable Energy Production (kWh): 1,950,000 - % Regulated Load: 33%
Note: % regulated load figures calculated by dividing whole building percentage targets by 40%
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/1/2011
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
The LEED EB:O&M Reference Guide does not specify precisely when during the LEED application review process Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) must be purchased, it only requires that the RECs meet specific percentages of the building\'s total energy use from the performance period.Our project team would like to wait until after the final review to file an appeal in order to purchase RECs and have EAc4 points included in the project\'s total before accepting certification.Can EAc4 thresholds be met by RECs purchased after the final review when filed through the appeal process?
Ruling:
A project team may elect to add and pursue EA c4 as part of an appeal after the project building\'s performance period has ended and after the Final Review has been completed and purchase RECs at that time, as long as the RECs purchased are based on the total annual site energy usage value reported for EAp2 and are allocated to the project building only. Note that at the time of appeal submittal, the project must have entered into a contract or commitment for future purchases to meet the 2-year requirement. Applicable internationally.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
7/1/2014
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
The project team is planning on installing a Cogeneration System that will take Biogas and turn it into Electricity to be used wholly on-site. The heat produced by this Cogeneration system will also fully be used on-site to preheat heating hot water and domestic hot water via a heat exchanger and potentially to power an absorption chiller.The building will receive the Biogas from a local Biogas provider and plans to enter into at least a 10 year contract with this provider to supply enough Biogas to the building to fully power the planned Cogeneration system. The contract will stipulate both that enough Biogas will be fed into the pipeline to meet required demands of the Cogeneration system and that the Biogas will be metered to prove that the actual amount of Biogas supplied meets the contracted requirements at all times.Though the Biogas is not being piped exclusively to the site (contractually it is supplied exclusively via project ownership funds), it is transported directly to the site in the existing natural gas pipeline. This approach achieves the exact same net result on the Natural Gas grid as piping Biogas exclusively to the project site in its own dedicated pipeline and allows the project to avoid having to dig up 100s of miles of land and lay a brand new pipeline to the project, something that would have a significantly detrimental effect on the local environment. In an urban environment like where the project is located, there is little or no option to be able to refine and extract Biogas on-site or even very close to a site, so the approach the project team is suggesting is the best and most reasonable alternative.Is this approach acceptable in accordance with the Reference Guide and Addendum 100001081 (November 1, 2011)?
Ruling:
Directed Biogas purchase is not considered on-site renewable energy based on the current EAc2 credit requirements, addenda and LEED Interpretations, because the gas consumed on-site is not the same as the biogas that the project purchased. Please note that the referenced Addendum 100001081 does not allow for the fuel used on site to be different than the fuel that was purchased for the project. The referenced addendum applies for situations such as landfill gas piped directly to the project from a nearby landfill, or wood pellets from wood mill residue that are trucked to the project. In either case, it would not be acceptable for the landfill gas or pellets generated from wood mill residue to be "purchased" by the project, used in another project, and replaced in the project with natural gas or wood pellets produced from tree tops. Also, note that NREL refers to directed biogas as off-site renewable energy.
Campus Applicable
Yes
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
1/4/2016
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
We would like to confirm the applicability of a District Lake Source Cooling (LSC) operation as an eligible on-site renewable energy source for LEED NC 2009 and LEED v4 BD+C. This innovative Lake Source Cooling facility, which has been in operation since 2000, uses the deep cold waters of a large lake as a non-contact renewable cooling source for a campus chilled water system. At a depth of ~250ft the bottom of the lake maintains a steady year-round temperature of 39-41 F. The only energy used in the system is pumping energy and the system has demonstrated an 86% reduction in energy use over conventional water cooled chiller. Extensive environmental impact studies were carried out prior to and after operation and all have concluded that adverse environmental impacts have been minimized or avoided. It does not use any vapor compression cycle and no water is wasted.
The LEED 2009 Reference Guide states "geothermal energy systems using deep-earth water or steam sources (but not vapor compression systems for heat transfer) may be eligible for this credit." The project team proposes to account for the renewable energy credit by calculating savings between the proposed case model with LSC system and a proposed case model with conventional refrigeration system that complies with the ASHRAE 90.1 code requirements.
Ruling:
The applicant is requesting whether deep-water Lake Source Cooling that replaces the refrigeration cycle for the campus central plant system may be used to claim credit for on-site renewable energy for the project under EA Credit 2: Renewable Energy Generation. The proposed approach is not acceptable since the lake source cooling does not qualify as a geothermal energy source using deep water or steam sources. Furthermore, the resource would be depleted and would have a negative environmental impact if the cooling capacity were increased exponentially (i.e. the resource provides increasingly less environmental benefit for other/subsequent projects beyond this one); therefore it is not considered on-site renewable energy.
It is noted that the proposed approach is an extremely efficient form of cooling, and while no credit is allowed as an on-site renewable source, significant credit would be achieved for EA Credit 1: Optimize Energy Performance using the ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G modeling processes.
Campus Applicable
Yes
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
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© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Use on-site renewable energy systems to offset building energy costs. Calculate project performance by expressing the energy produced by the renewable systems as a percentage of the building’s annual energy cost and use the table below to determine the number of points achieved. Use the building annual energy cost calculated in EA Credit 1: Optimize Energy Performance or the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey database to determine the estimated electricity use.The minimum renewable energy percentage for each point threshold is as follows:
