Hi LEED Experts,
My project in Malaysia and we purchased REC of from the local solar supplier with EKOenergy label. We received LEED review comment: "Note that projects in Europe may use EKOenergy with additional parameters in place of Green-e Energy. The Further Explanation, International Tips section of the LEEDv4 ID+C Reference Guide includes a description of the additional parameters". I thought EKOenergy label is completely accepted by LEED as an alternative for Green-e. But based on this comment, it seems EKOenergy label is not sufficient. In the reference guide, there is no where to mention specific EKOenergy label. Do you know where LEED mentioned additional parameters between EKOenergy and Green-E?
I'm also a bit confused when my project is not in Europe but the LEED reviewer mentioned "project in Europe may use EKOenergy..." Does that mean: project not in Europe, might not use EKOenergy, EKOenergy is only for Europe?
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5899 thumbs up
July 8, 2024 - 9:30 am
Sounds like the reviewer is going by the letter of the law in that EKOenergy is approved for European projects but not necessarily for others. EKOenergy is accepted for projects in Europe by the European ACPs. By extension it would make sense to me that EKOenergy elsewhere should be granted equivalency assuming that they follow the same rules worldwide. If they do follow the same rules then you should be able to demonstrate equivalency. You could do a comparison of the EKOenergy standard for Europe and the version you used. If they are identical it would make no sense that it would not apply to your project too.
You could also go back to Green-e and compare what you used to it. Here is how to demonstrate equivalency with Green-e.
Projects not using Green-e certified products must demonstrate the alternative’s equivalency to the quality standards established for Green-e Energy and Green-e Climate products:
The accounting process and standards must be equivalent to Green-e products and address the following:
For carbon offsets, retirement of an eligible credit alone is not equivalent to Green-e Climate certification.
Hopefully you can pretty easily demostrate some sort of equivalency.