The U.S. Green Building Council is preparing to release version 4 of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Among several updates, the LEED program is changing the purchase requirements for renewable energy and carbon offsets. The new requirements increase both the minimum quantity of purchases and minimum contract length; additionally, the products will need to be Green-e certified or equivalent. Under the LEED Building Design and Construction (BD+C) and Interior Design and Construction (ID+C) guidelines, a project qualifying for renewable electricity credit must purchase at least 50% of its electricity from renewables for five years; those purchases must come from generation sources that came online after January 1, 2005. Similarly, credit for carbon offsets will only be awarded to projects which cover at least 50% of on-site electricity use.

Press Release - Green-e Certification in LEED v4

Additional Information - U.S. Green Building Council, LEED v4