Good morning,
We are pursuing this credit and we do not have a Green-e certification for the product so we have submitted for the preliminary review all the documentation we have to stablished the equivalency with the Green-e certified. The review team has asked we for a clarification but we are confused because they are asking a documentation we have already submitted. Or probably there is something we do not understand. I am going to explain the steps we have taken for the equivalency. The LEED reference guide says that:
1- "The energy source meets the requirements for renewable resources detailed in the current version of the Green- e standard".
We have uploaded a certificate of the supplier company veryfing that the Green Power comes exclusively from renewable sources.The Green-e standard defines the eligible renewables in the chapter II. Eligible sources of supply/ 1. Definition of eligible renewables as solar, wind, geothermal...which are the same of our supplier company sources. Do we have to submit a letter of our supplier company confirming this?
2- "The renewable energy supplier has undergone an independent, third-party verification that the standard has been met. The third-party verification process must be as rigorous as that used in the Green-e certification process, and it must be performed annually."
In this point we have explained that the Green Power will be double certified at the end of the 2-year contract:
a. In its origin by RECS “Renewable Energy Certified System” (attached below) certificates issued and managed by an Agency for each Country (“Issuing Body”) which in Spain is REE and ensures that the generated energy comes exclusively from renewable sources. This certificates are issued by MWh blocks and contain a certicate number, the issuer, generating plant identity, issue date, production period, technology type, etc. All of this values that appear in the RECS document will be changed at the end of the contract period when the certificate will be issued. They made an annual revision but the certificate is issued at the end of the current Green Power contract.
b. The supplier company has undergone an independent third-party certification by Bureau Veritas Quality International company (attached below) verifying the renewable provenience of the total contracted energy. This certification implies that exists an internal management method of this RECs certifies and the assignment of the Green Power to the purchasers.
Besides this, do we have to compare the Bureau Veritas verification process with the Green-e process? I do not know what more can we do. I hope you could help me because this credit is very important. Thank you very much.
Kathryn West
LEED AP BD+C, O+M, Green Globes ProfessionalJLL
154 thumbs up
May 13, 2013 - 11:52 am
Can you include the exact requests from the LEED Review team?
Patricia Fuertes
May 13, 2013 - 11:56 am
The review team has told me the following:
The LEED Credit Form has been provided stating that 75.11% of the building energy usage has been met with off-site renewable energy systems. A copy of a two-year contract for renewable energy has been provided.
However, it does not appear that Green-e certified renewable energy has been purchased.
TECHNICAL ADVICE:
Please provide documentation indicating that the green power provided is Green-e certified. If the green power is not Green-e certified, provide documentation showing Green-e equivalence, including: 1) equivalence of the green power performance standards for the provider to Green-e, and 2) independent, third-party verification that those standards are being met by the green power supplier over time. Please see the Implementation section of EAc4 in the LEED Reference Guide for Green Building Operations and Maintenance, 2009 Edition (Updated April 2010) for more information.
Kathryn West
LEED AP BD+C, O+M, Green Globes ProfessionalJLL
154 thumbs up
May 13, 2013 - 12:21 pm
I think you will have a lot of trouble getting a product to be "equivalent" to green-e. http://www.green-e.org/getcert_re_stan.shtml This appears to be a growing pain of LEED going international. It doesn't look like any equivalent has been formally accepted and I don't see any specific equivalent mentioned in LEEDv4 either. Even though it doesn't really make sense, you may want to purchase green-e certified RECs for your project instead of renewable energy in your county...carbon dioxide knows no national borders after all. and green-e certified RECs from the U.S. are very affordable (~$1/ MWh)
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11478 thumbs up
May 13, 2013 - 1:14 pm
Patricia, you would have to do exactly what you stated, which is to compare the Green-e certification against Bureau Veritas.I agree with Kathryn, though, that simply purchasing Green-e might be more cost-effective, besides being guaranteed of success.
David ESPAGNET
Green Building and Sustainability Project ManagerBureau Veritas
1 thumbs up
January 14, 2014 - 10:16 am
Hello.
In the "credit language" above is precised :
" Projects in Europe may use the following approved standards in place of Green-e Energy:
- EKOenergy
- Guarantees of Origin (GOs) with additional parameters"
What is meant by additional parameters? My client, in France, has subscribed, for its site, for 1200 guarantees of Origins Certificates from EDF, the French national electric company. The certificates are delivered by a third party company : POWERNEXT.
In that case, what are the additional parameters i have to prove to show compliance with EA c4? The Powernext process of certification ?
Thank you very much by advance.