How often do entryway systems need to be cleaned?

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There is no explicit requirement for how frequently entryway systems must be cleaned. A good cleaning program will take into consideration the types of particulates that are likely to be introduced into your building via foot traffic, your indoor air quality goals, and the cleaning needs of the specific entryway system/materials being used. You may also want to consider whether cleaning practices need to be adjusted seasonally to address changes in weather.

We plan on pursuing this credit only if we need to do so to meet our certification target, i.e. if another credit we are counting on gets rejected. How late can we apply for this credit?

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You can document this credit as late as when you submit your clarifications for the construction review. You can even do it after that, and before you accept your final certification, but you'll have to pay an appeal fee.

The owner has purchased RECs for a percentage of energy use of its whole portfolio of buildings, or campus. Can we earn this credit for a single LEED building with this purchase?

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Yes. Provide evidence of the quantity and term purchase for the campus along with an explanation of how the green power has been or will be allocated as applicable. If any of this purchase has been allocated to a previous LEED project state how much and provide a letter allocating the quantity needed to this project.

We will have cogeneration onsite. Do the credit requirements apply to all electricity used onsite, or only that which is purchased from the grid?

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If Scope 1 fuel sources are being combusted to generate electricity, then those sources should be used to calculate the emissions for the cogeneration system and should be covered by carbon offsets. Green power and RECs can only be used for grid-purchased electricity.

Our project will be net-zero energy, i.e. will produce as much or more power than it consumes. Can we earn this credit?

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Yes, as confirmed by LEED Interpretation #10219 posted on 7/1/2012, if the project produces 100% or more of its electricity as onsite renewable electricity, the project can earn the credit plus an EP point. However, you also need to take steps to ensure that if the as-built project does not turn out to be net-zero, that the appropriate quantity of RECs will be purchased to meet the credit threshold. See the LEED Interpretation for these details.

We are pursuing this credit outside the U.S., and the owner wants to know if we can buy green power through a provider in our country that is not Green-e certified. We started comparing our national standard to Green-e and quickly found an area where the

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Correct—you can't rely on your national standard in this case. The Green-e Standard exists to make sure that there is no double counting in the market and clearly addresses the voluntary market only. These fundamental issue of accounting and additionality are at the core of LEED's adoption of such a standard to define quality green power products.

Our project is outside the U.S. We would like to earn this credit by purchasing RECs, but there are no Green-e options available here. It looks like most Green-e certified power comes from the U.S. What should we do?

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Your simplest course of action is to buy any Green-e RECs available on the open market, including those in the U.S. There is no requirement for your RECs to be from your country. If you prefer to buy RECs from a project closer to home, you can see if there are RECs available that are certified to a standard that is equivalent to Green-e. This is less common, but has been done.

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