GreenYour.com

Choosing clean, green energy—either through your utility company or by purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs)—encourages the growth of eco-friendly power production businesses and helps support further development of renewable energy technologies. The potential expansion of the green energy market is enormous as is the potential for providing thousands of green jobs. An added benefit: increased energy independence, which could lead to greater economic and social security. So plug into the sun, water, wind, or geothermal by opting into your utility’s green power options!

How to get green power from your electric provider

Say you decide on greener power for your home or office. First step: examine your local electricity provider’s power mix. Even if they generate mostly dirty energy from nuclear or coal-fired power plants, they may offer some green alternatives or add-ons. The following are usually offered to electricity consumers:

• Choose a green pricing option: If you're in a state with a regulated power structure, you’re given essentially only one choice for electricity: your local utility provider. The good news is that many state utilities offer green pricing options. This means that although you can’t be guaranteed to have only green power pumped directly to your outlets, you can pay a premium to your electricity provider to have your equivalent power usage pumped into the grid as renewable energy.
• Choose a green marketing option: Green marketing options are available to those in states with a competitive electricity market. In such a system, power providers, including private power companies and your local utility, can jockey for your business. As a result, you have the choice to purchase electricity from your regular provider (that may or may not generate power sustainably) or from a company offering some percentage of green power. Some green energy companies even offer 100 percent renewable options!

Drawbacks

At this time, most electricity providers charge a premium for their green energy options. This is likely because of two problems. First, conventional sources of energy (usually fossil fuel-based) are highly subsidized by most governments, making them seem much cheaper than cleaner sources of energy. Second, because green energy is a much newer and smaller industry, the economies of scale have not yet begun to benefit them.

How to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs)

Perhaps after all of your research you find that there are no electric providers offering renewable energy options in your area. If that’s the case, consider RECs. Nationwide, renewable energy companies (most often private enterprises), generate power via solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, or biomass, but it often costs more to produce than non-renewable energy.

To solve this financial challenge, green energy producers can offer RECs (known alternatively as renewable energy credits, green tags, and tradable renewable certificates (TRCs)). They generate power and then symbolically bundle it together, usually in quantities of 1,000 kilowatt-hours (a kWh equals 1 megawatt-hour or MWh). This bundle is given a uniquely generated number, known as a renewable energy certificate (to keep it from being double-counted), which can then be offered on the open market to those interested in supporting green energy.

The cost of each green tag is calculated based on the difference between the market rate for traditional fossil fuel energy and actual costs of clean energy production. So for instance, if the market price of conventional power is about $0.06 per kWh, and clean power costs $0.07 kWh to generate, the difference will be $0.01 per kWh, which is $1 per MWh. Assuming you use the US average of 11,000 kWh every year, in our imaginary scenario, you’ll pay $110 per year for your RECs. That’s less than $10 a month!

To get started on the REC track, follow these important tips:

• Calculate your carbon footprint: Determine how much energy you’ll need to offset by first finding out how much you use. There are many carbon calculators out there: EcoNeutral, Carbon Friendly Solutions, and ZeroFootprint.
• Give preference to certified RECs: Not all RECs are created equal so look for certified RECs to ensure you’re getting truly clean, independently audited sources of energy. Many RECs are verified by Green-e, but some are also vetted by Environmental Resources Trust’s EcoPower program. The Neutral Network also provides verification of the methodologies used to calculate greenhouse gas emissions offsets.

Keep in mind that purchasing green tags does not mean that green electrons get literally delivered to your home. You remain plugged into your not-so-green power supplier, making your regular electricity payments. The green news? The RECs you’ve purchased represent green power being pumped into the overall electricity mix, meaning the more you purchase, the more the balance of power generated nationwide swings in the direction of green. Purchasing RECs effectively allows you to subsidize green energy production—your payments go toward making new and existing renewable energy facilities more competitive. Much like carbon offsets for travel and other CO₂-intensive activities, RECs give you green bragging rights—the benefits of this clean energy (fewer greenhouse gases, reduced particulate matter production, and lowered noxious gas emissions) legally belong to you. But perhaps more importantly, purchasing RECs acts as a powerful signal that demand for green energy is increasing.

Before you buy

Controversy surrounds the business of RECS, especially when it comes to the viability of REC projects in the absence of REC revenue. The REC market works by requiring the clean energy company to prove that the solar or wind energy would not be produced without the help of carbon revenue. But the truth is, many renewable energy projects are already making money, even without the infusion of REC cash.

Put another way, if renewable energy is already being pumped into your local grid (whether or not you purchase RECs), what benefit is your investment in RECs truly making? If the solar farm next door continues to pump the same quantity of clean energy into your local grid regardless of how many RECs are purchased and the overall ratio of dirty to clean energy remains the same, why are RECs necessary? The real question: are RECs really making clean energy more pervasive? You’ll have to decide for yourself.

Find it! Renewable energy

You’ll need to contact local utility companies to find out what your green electricity options are, but if you’re interested in RECs, here are a few companies:

Getting green power from your electric provider helps you go green because…

• It supports increased development of renewable energy sources.
• It creates a more secure social future since it reduces our dependence on foreign sources of oil.
• It provides an abundance of healthy green jobs.

The demand for electricity in the US is predicted to increase 50 percent by 2025, increasing the need for new energy generating capacity.[1] According to Environmental Defense, electricity use in the US is responsible for 70 percent of sulfur emissions, 33 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, 23 percent of mercury emissions, and 23 percent of fine airborne particle emissions. Coal power plants account for most of these emissions, which together contribute to several environmental problems, including lake and stream acidity, disruption of nutrient balance in water basins, depletion of soil nutrients, decreased plant and animal biodiversity, and damage to natural habitats.

In addition, fossil fuel burning power plants in the US release about 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually. In fact, about 80 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions come from power plants worldwide.[2]

The US leans heavily on foreign sources of oil to supply its growing energy demands. Choosing to support green sources of energy increases energy independence and ensures a more secure social and economic future. In addition, as money is invested in green power projects, more jobs are created. Supporting green power helps to expand the job market and stimulates the economy.

Renewable energy sources

There are several types of renewable energy sources to consider. Most electric providers use a mix of two or more of these options.

Direct solar energy falls into two general categories: concentrating and thermal systems. Currently, solar energy provides less than one percent of the energy needed by electricity users in the US.[3]

In one way or another, most other renewable power sources are related to solar energy. Wind, for instance, results from solar energy absorbed and reflected by water and land, which in turn creates pockets of air with varying temperatures that react to create wind. The estimated energy potential from wind worldwide is 5,800 quadrillion Btus, which is 15 times more than the current energy demand of the world.[4]

The constant cycling of water through the earth results in powerful hydro-forces, which are harnessed using mechanical processes in hydropower generating facilities. Hydropower comprises 73 percent of all energy generated renewably in the US.[5] Oceans cover over 70 percent of the earth’s surface and can produce energy mechanically and thermally.[6]

Biomass energy is harnessed by burning biomass such as manure, crops, wood, and garbage to produce steam, which turns a turbine. Biomass currently provides about three percent of the energy used by Americans.[7]

Geothermal energy, which originates in the earth's core where temperatures can reach 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (F), can be used to provide direct heat, can regulate building temperatures (heating and cooling), and can be used to create electricity. It has the potential to provide 50,000 times more energy than the combined resources of all the world’s oil and gas resources.[8]

Hydrogen energy is harnessed by electrochemically combining hydrogen with oxygen, which produces electricity and heat. The only byproduct is clean water vapor.

Non-renewable energy sources

Non-renewable energy sources fall into two main categories: fossil fuel and nuclear energy. Burning fossil fuels (including coal) creates several environmentally-harmful gasses, disrupts land and ocean habitats, and results in oil spills which can kill wildlife and water pollution. Burning coal provides over 50 percent of the electricity used by Americans, but is the single largest source of mercury emissions.[9] Nuclear energy, on the other hand, has the potential for disastrous accidents (such as Chernobyl), and can cause serious radiation poisoning for workers and those living in close proximity to the plants. Disposal of spent uranium is also very problematic as safety and expense are both unsolved challenges.

Controversies

Several controversies have followed the rapid growth in the renewable energy certificates market, not least of which is certification and regulation. Without non-partisan, independent verification of the clean energy industry, critics posit that consumers are faced with misleading, greenwash messages from unregulated companies trying to pass their green tags off as entirely renewable.[10][11] Issues of transparency also dog the sale of RECs, since clean energy suppliers sometimes refuse to identify which projects receive the funding, and how much their profits are relative to funds being sent to the expand clean energy generation.[12] Finally, RECs are being touted as the poor man’s carbon offsets, since they are often cheaper than purchasing offsets, and certainly less expensive than building one-off wind or solar farms.[13]

Glossary

• Btu (British thermal unit): A unit of energy used universally in the heating and cooling industries. It is defined as the unit of heat required to raise 1 pound of water by 1° F.

External links

• IEA Bioenergy: An International Collaboration in Bioenergy
• International Energy Agency - Key World Energy Statistics 2005
• Low Impact Hydropower Institute
• Sierra Club’s Clean Air Campaign
• Renewable Energy World.com - Improving the Forward Curve for Green Power
• US Department of Energy’s Biomass Program
• US Department of Energy - Renewable Energy Certificates and Air Emissions Benefits: Developing an Appropriate Definition for a REC
• US Environmental Protection Agency - Green Power and Renewable Energy
• US Environmental Protection Agency - Guide to Purchasing Green Power
• US National Renewable Energy Laboratory - Emerging Markets for Renewable Energy Certificates: Opportunities and Challenges