Can RECs be used for project located on a campus with a central plant that generates its own electricity for the campus? It is a cogen plant that also supplies steam and chilled water.
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Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5867 thumbs up
July 20, 2022 - 5:13 pm
Sure, I don't see why not.
Erin Holdenried
Sustainable Design DirectorBell Architects
45 thumbs up
July 21, 2022 - 6:23 pm
The guidance on LEEDuser suggests only electricty purchased from the utiltiy grid can be offset by RECs. The project I am working on will be supplied with electricity generated by an on-site campus plant using natural gas, not electricity purchased from the grid. Is this still considered upstream Scope 2 emissions? I am wondering if RECs could be used for this electricty, or if it we would have to purchase carbon offsets.
Tyler Thumma
7GroupLEEDuser Expert
60 thumbs up
August 11, 2022 - 1:26 pm
I could not find any definitive guidance on this, but this article from EPA states "CHP emissions are accounted for as Scope 1, or direct, emissions when the CHP facility is located within the facility boundary. At the same time, the CHP will displace amount of grid electricity consumed by the facility. The CHP could also be accounted for in a facility's Scope 2 emissions when the CHP provides energy from outside the facility boundary."
For the purposes of this credit, it might depend on whether you model the campus plant as supplying purchased energy to the project, or as a virtual on-site plant (Option 1, Path 2: Full DES Performance Accounting).
If you model the electricity, steam, and chilled water supplied by the plant as purchased energy, then the electricity supplied by the plant should be considered Scope 2 and should be eligible to be offset by RECs.
If you model a virtual on-site plant, then the only energy source you would have in your proposed building model will be the input fuel to the cogen plant (assuming the central plant supplies 100% of the building's electricity), and this would have to be offset by carbon offsets.
Erin Holdenried
Sustainable Design DirectorBell Architects
45 thumbs up
August 11, 2022 - 5:53 pm
Yeah, that's what we finally figured out. The reference guide sort of explains it under Green Power & Carbon Offsets. Scope 1 if you are modeling the plant, and Scope 2 if it's outside the project boundary and you are treating it as a purchased utility in the model. If treating it as Scope 2, you have to factor in transmission losses for steam, hot water, and chilled water but not electricity.