Hi all
In my LEED CI project the tenant are sub metering their energy usage and are then paying the building the owner for the amount of energy used. The building owner is buying 100% green power through wind to all of their tenants and is billing out the cost. Can my project meet the requirements of this credit when the tenants are not the ones who have the energy supply contract? The project is located in Sweden and we don't have RECs.
Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks!
/Mathilda
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5867 thumbs up
August 8, 2013 - 10:18 am
Sounds like you are paying for it so I would think that you could claim credit for it. make sure to thoroughly explain the situation to the reviewer.
You will need to demonstrate equivalency to Green-e. The green power source itself is only a part of equivalency. The hardest part in some countries is demonstrating that the green power source is not the result of a government mandate (i.e. requirement that some portion of the power in the country is renewable). Green-e clearly supports the voluntary market and counting something being mandated as green power is an issue of addtionality. This concept is common in carbon offsets and means that the revenue stream derived from the market is used to encourage additional projects beyond those which would have happened anyway.
For example, in the US we have states with a Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires the utilities in that state to provide a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources. Many of these mandated projects are for wind power. This wind power cannot be Green-e certified because it is required. So the purpose behind Green-e is to encourage the voluntary market by creating a market for the positive environmental attributes associated with the power source and putting a value on them. This is the REC market in the US and green power in other countries must demonstrate equivalency.