SPECIAL REPORT
LEEDuser expert
Marcus Sheffer
7group / Energy Opportunities
LEED Fellow
SPECIAL REPORT
LEEDuser’s viewpoint
Frank advice from LEED experts
LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To reduce the environmental and economic harms associated with fossil fuel energy by increasing self-supply of renewable energy.
Requirements
Use renewable energy systems to offset building energy costs. Calculate the percentage of renewable energy with the following equation:
| % renewable energy = | Equivalent cost of usable energy produced by the renewable energy system |
| Total building annual energy cost |
Use the building’s annual energy cost, calculated in EA Prerequisite Minimum Energy Performance, if Option 1 was pursued; otherwise use the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) database to estimate energy use and cost.
The use of solar gardens or community renewable energy systems is allowed if both of the following requirements are met.
- The project owns the system or has signed a lease agreement for a period of at least 10 years.
- The system is located with the same utility service area as the facility claiming the use.
Credit is based on the percentage of ownership or percentage of use assigned in the lease agreement. Points are awarded according to Table 1.
Table 1. Points for renewable energy
| Percentage renewable energy | Points (except CS) | Points (CS) |
|---|---|---|
| 1% | 1 | 1 |
| 3% | — | 2 |
| 5% | 2 | 3 |
| 10% | 3 | — |
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 ACP
EApc107 - Energy performance metering path
EApc111: Alternative Performance Rating Method
What 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 »Documentation toolkit
The motherlode of cheat sheets
LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.
Get the inside scoop
Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To reduce the environmental and economic harms associated with fossil fuel energy by increasing self-supply of renewable energy.
Requirements
Use renewable energy systems to offset building energy costs. Calculate the percentage of renewable energy with the following equation:
| % renewable energy = | Equivalent cost of usable energy produced by the renewable energy system |
| Total building annual energy cost |
Use the building’s annual energy cost, calculated in EA Prerequisite Minimum Energy Performance, if Option 1 was pursued; otherwise use the U.S. Department of Energy’s Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) database to estimate energy use and cost.
The use of solar gardens or community renewable energy systems is allowed if both of the following requirements are met.
- The project owns the system or has signed a lease agreement for a period of at least 10 years.
- The system is located with the same utility service area as the facility claiming the use.
Credit is based on the percentage of ownership or percentage of use assigned in the lease agreement. Points are awarded according to Table 1.
Table 1. Points for renewable energy
| Percentage renewable energy | Points (except CS) | Points (CS) |
|---|---|---|
| 1% | 1 | 1 |
| 3% | — | 2 |
| 5% | 2 | 3 |
| 10% | 3 | — |
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 ACP
EApc107 - Energy performance metering path
EApc111: Alternative Performance Rating Method
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 »In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, 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.
LEEDuser expert
Marcus Sheffer
7group / Energy Opportunities
LEED Fellow