Green Building LEED Certification Supports Green Power :: Renewable Choice Celebrates 1,000 LEED Projects

Boulder, CO (PRWEB) October 28, 2009 -- Renewable Choice Energy (http://www.renewablechoice.com), a national sustainability company known for its award-winning wind power partnership with Whole Foods Market and the world's largest supplier of renewable energy for the Green Power Credit for LEED certification (http://www.renewablechoice.com/sustainability-webinar-video-LEED-green-power-building.html), is celebrating having now supplied more than 1,000 LEED-certified buildings (http://www.renewablechoice.com/business-LEED-green-power-projects.html) with green power to reduce their environmental impact, support renewable energy development in the U.S. and Canada, and efficiently obtain points towards LEED certification.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized voluntary certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Points are given towards a variety of LEED certification levels within categories that recognize a building project's commitment to sustainability through choice of materials, efficiency and more. One area of LEED certification relates to the effect that construction, renovation and operation of a building have on energy use and the atmosphere.

A credit within the Energy & Atmosphere (http://www.renewablechoice.com/business-LEED-green-power.html) category gives building projects an opportunity to gain points towards their LEED certification for using green power to offset the electricity used during construction and subsequent operation of a building. This is one of the key ways that Renewable Choice can help projects with credit achievement; by helping projects measure their electricity impacts and provide green power to reduce that impact.

"Electricity use is unavoidable in modern buildings and often one of the largest contributors to the carbon emissions associated with buildings," says Lauren Newsom, LEED Accredited Professional and Sales Director for Renewable Choice. "Since direct installation of renewable energy on-site is not always possible for builders or is simply too cost-prohibitive, supporting renewable energy generation with the purchase of green power, aka renewable energy credits or RECs, helps a building take responsibility for its energy use and reduce its overall carbon footprint."

Green power purchases guarantee energy is added to the grid from renewable sources and supports the growth and development of those sources, including wind farms. In 2008, more than half of all green power purchases came from the voluntary market, including those sourced from wind farms, the green building industry accounting for a large portion of these purchases. Wind power is now the largest growing power source in the world and in 2008 made up more than 40% of all new electricity production facilities built in the U.S. While there are a number of factors that contribute to this growth, wind power developers have said that renewable energy credits (RECs) (http://www.renewablechoice.com/business-about-renewable-energy.html) are a key source of revenue that helps new projects be developed and current projects grow.

"Using renewable resources helps reduce environmental and economic impacts associated with fossil fuel energy use and is in alignment with the imperatives of today's realities," said Doug Gatlin, VP of Market Development, USGBC. "We congratulate Renewable Choice as they celebrate having supplied more than 1,000 LEED certified buildings with renewable power."

Renewable Choice has worked with over 1,000 projects to obtain the Green Power Credit and recently announced its latest project partners taking it over the 1,000 mark in time for the annual USGBC Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=287) dedicated to green building which the company exhibits at annually. The projects include The Portola Hotel & Spa of Monterey, CA, Broward County Convention Center of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology of Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Renewable Choice is a USGBC Member and has been supplying green power for green building projects since 2002.

"Renewable Choice made the entire process of gaining the Green Power Credit simple from beginning to finish. They assisted us with calculations, explained the requirements of the credit, and guided us through the submittal process," says Marla Thalheimer, Sustainability Manager for Liberty Property Trust. "The Green Power Credit was certainly one of the easiest credits we pursued--all thanks to Renewable Choice."

Renewable Choice Energy provides a free PDF guide and webinar on how to use the Green Power Credit for LEED Certification (http://www.renewablechoice.com/sustainability-webinar-video-LEED-green-power-building.html) at http://www.renewablechoice.com/sustainability-webinar-video-LEED-green-power-building.html.

Renewable Choice Energy (http://www.renewablechoice.com)

Renewable Choice Energy (http://www.renewablechoice.com) is a leading national provider of renewable energy credits (RECs) and verified emission reductions (VERs) (carbon offsets) to hundreds of Fortune 500 Companies and small businesses, thousands of residential customers, and over 1,000 LEED green building projects in the U.S. Founded in 2001, Boulder-Colo.-based Renewable Choice and its clients have received prestigious awards from the EPA and DOE for supporting and expanding the renewable energy market and have been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, USA TODAY, and more.

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