ON-SITE VS. LIFE CYCLE NET POSITIVE
At the final Facility, the manufacturer has met the requirements of having offset 105% of the process fossil energy associated with manufacturing the product) that is pursuing certification (if following the Product Share pathway), or of all process fossil-based energy used on-site (if following the Whole Facility pathway).
Process energy refers to the energy required to produce the product on-site at the final Facility. This includes all production-associated energy (such as machine operation, power tools, heating for steam production).
The on-site energy footprint should be determined through traceable data from meter(s) and submeters (if installed), other onsite tracking systems or web-link to an online mechanism that clearly records energy produced and consumed (e.g., total energy generated; total energy use by subsystem including simulated/designed demand if available). Manufacturers should clearly describe how they calculated the production energy (submetering is preferred).
In the product life cycle, the manufacturer must document and calculate impacts of energy Footprint reduction methods and quantify the reduction in product energy Footprint. In addition, the manufacturer should clearly compare the size of the total Handprint created and its comparison to the Footprint.
Non-quantifiable impacts (e.g. social impacts) resulting from manufacturer Handprinting actions are highly encouraged, but are not required for achievement of the Imperative.
APPROVED RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
Renewable Energy is defined as passive solar, photovoltaics, solar thermal, wind turbines, water-powered microturbines, direct geothermal, or fuel cells powered by hydrogen generated from renewably powered electrolysis. Project teams intending to use technology other than what is indicated here must submit requests to LPC.Support@living-future.org. It is not acceptable to measure a project’s performance by including the savings from another building that is outside the project boundary or the scope of the project without an Exception.
RENEWABLE ENERGY ADDITIONALITY
New renewable energy assemblies and infrastructure must provide additionality, i.e., create new renewables that would not otherwise exist but for the project, unless they meet an Exception.
ON-SITE RENEWABLE ENERGY
Renewable energy sources offsetting on-site energy use are to be located within the final manufacturing facility grounds unless the project meets an Exception.
LIFE CYCLE NET POSITIVE CLARIFICATIONS
NET POSITIVE TIMELINE
By the time of certification, manufacturers must create an energy Handprint greater than the cradle-to-gate energy Footprint established in the 12-month performance period as identified in I06, and then maintain Net Positivity on an annual basis moving forward.
While Net Positive Energy is encouraged to be accounted for on an annual basis, the minimum requirement at the time of certification is Net Positive achievement for at least 3 months of fossil energy consumption, calculated by multiplying the fossil energy Footprint by production volume. This may help manufacturers that are scaling production and sales during the certification process and after certification is achieved and product sales begin.
Manufacturers who have offset less than the full 3 years of production impacts at the time of certification, must have a robust plan in place to maintain Net Positivity through the certification period in order to be approved.
This plan must include:
- Description of each Handprinting activity
- Timeline of implementation
- Clear description of how the Handprint will be measured
- Statement from the manufacturing leadership pointing to awareness of the program requirements and committing to maintaining Net Positivity over the certification period
