GP: Comparison of CRS Green-E & Canadian EcoLogo Green Power criteria?

["I.G. Theaker" <igt@integral-design-engineering.ca>]

Hello, GP Listers,

I'm working on a version of LEED for British Columbia, Canada, adapting the
LEED criteria to refer to equivalent (or better) Canadian standards.
(LEED"="Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design", by the US Green
Building Council <http://www.usgbc.org/>).

One of the more important credits I'm wrestling with is LEED 2.0s Energy
Credit 6, "Green Power", which cites the Center for Resource Solutions
"Green-E" standard for LEED point awards <http://www.green-e.org/>.  This
standard assumes a deregulated electricity market, and requires that at
least 50% of sources of Green-E certified power are biomass (including
waste-to-energy and land-fill gas); geothermal; small hydro-electric
(<30MW); Low Impact Hydropower Institute certified hydropower; solar; wind
or ocean-based renewable resources.

The best candidate for a Canadian equivalent is from Environment Canada's
Environmental Choice Program: the EcoLogo Green Power
standard.<http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/info/publications/ce00s01.en.html>

On the surface, EcoLogo is a more stringent standard, since it requires 98%
of certified offerings are derived from wind, solar, landfill gas, sewage
digester gas, biomass power sources, and/or small run-of-the-river
hydroelectricity.  However, I'd like to be sure that the EcoLogo criteria
for hydropower are at least as stringent as those of the Low Impact
Hydropower Institute <http://www.lowimpacthydro.org/>.

As an energy engineer whose main focus is reducing the energy consumption of
buildings, rather than a specialist in river system ecology, I'd appreciate
more informed opinions.

Does anyone on the list have direct experience with the CRS Green-E, the Low
Impact Hydropower Institute, and the EcoLogo Green Power standards for
low-impact hydropower?  Can anyone point me to someone with impartial
expertise and experience with them?  And - is there anything else I should
be paying attention to wrt green power certification?


Your help would be greatly appreciated!
Ian Theaker, P.Eng.
                        Principal, Integral Design/Engineering

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Integral Design / Engineering           Helping create beautiful,
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