Green Options » renewable energy credits

Five Green Holiday Gifts that Keep on Giving

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:56:11 +0000

This post was originally published at Intent.com on Monday, December 15, 2008.

The winter holidays are almost upon us, and whether you’re celebrating Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or the holiday(s) of another tradition, you may still be stumped for gifts to give this year… especially gifts that fit your own (and the recipients’) values.

For the past few years, I’ve moved away from buying “stuff” as much as possible, and focused on giving the gift of giving (say that three times fast!). That is, I look for gifts that contribute to larger causes. After writing about ‘TisBest gift cards a couple of weeks ago, I started brainstorming on other good “gifts that keep on giving” for the “treehugger” on your list.

Adopt an Animal: This has become my mainstay for my neice and nephews. We don’t get them a pet; rather, we make a donation to the Missouri Humane Society’s Longmeadow Rescue Ranch “Barn Buddy” program. You can check with your local Humane Society or ASPCA chapter for similar programs. If wildlife is more your thing, Defenders of Wildlife has “adoption” gifts featuring wolves, penuins, polar bears, and other animals.

University of Phoenix Makes Record Purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates

Tom Schueneman — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:52:05 +0000

The University of Phoenix, in partnership with local Phoenix, Arizona energy provider Salt River Project (SRP), announced yesterday that they will make the largest purchase of renewable energy tax certificates in Arizona history.

The University will buy 46.5 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits, equivalent to all of its Phoenix campus’ annual consumption and 27% of its more than 200 campuses across the county. It is also enough power to keep the lights, computers, and TVs going in 3,800 American homes for a year or removing the carbon emissions of 5,280 cars.

University of Phoenix is purchasing the credits from the Hopkins Ridge Wind Facility in Washington state through SRP’s EarthWise program.

As a result of the purchase, the University of Phoenix is ranked 7th on the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Top 20 College & University Partner List“.

Is Wal-Mart Trying to Undermine Carbon Offset Guidelines?

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:31:17 +0000

Though much of my time over the past couple of weeks has been devoted to the behind-the-scenes work of bringing The Inspired Economist into the Green Options Media blog network, I’ve also made sure to follow the discussion regarding Wal-Mart’s comments to the FTC regarding carbon offsets and renewable energy credits. In a post titled “Wal-Mart Lobbies Against Carbon Offset Guidelines,” Tony Calero at Wal-Mart Watch got this discussion started by pointing to the company’s comments filed in response to an FTC request:

Herein lays the scandal: Despite the company’s “green” initiatives, Wal-Mart is actively lobbying against the clarification of offset guidelines. The company’s hypocritical stance on the issue came to light last week in a hearing of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC is attempting to modernize the “Green Guides,” guidelines issued for corporations defining acceptable marketing claims regarding environmental products and initiatives. In response to the FTC’s solicitation of retailer comment to guide the process, Wal-Mart’s Director of Energy Regulation, Angela Beehler, expressed Wal-Mart’s firm opposition towards the clarified scope and definition of carbon offsets…

As you might imagine, other media outlets picked up on this pretty quickly: Grist, for instance, noted that Consumers Union and other groups have “been advocating for clear, specific definitions to avoid misleading green claims, ” and that “the FTC’s definition of carbon offsets could most affect the retailer’s ultra-ambitious goal to someday run on 100 percent renewable energy — a huge amount of which would likely have to come from offsets or renewable-energy certificates.” US News and World Report’s “Fresh Greens” blog asked “Is Wal-Mart being hypocritical, or are its green efforts in good faith?” Eoin O’Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor’s “Bright Green Blog” not only expressed a reaction similar to my own (essentially head-scratching), but also took a step further than the rest of us: he gave Wal-Mart a call. Much of the response he received followed the typical MO of a corporate communications department: the company restated its broad sustainability goals, and offered some more specific ones related to greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency. It addressed offsets and renewable energy credits in the last paragraph:

Roll Your Own RECs

Philip Proefrock — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:36:45 +0000

Last week I wrote an article titled "Real Renewable Energy vs. Renewable Energy Credits" where I looked at the issue of renewable energy credits (RECs) versus direct purchase of renewable energy. (For some followup to that story, a podcast of the WDET radio program ‘Detroit Today’ where the issue of the local REC program was discussed is now online. In addition to discussing the DTE Greencurrents program, the Austin (TX) green energy program was also explored and compared with the REC program.)

While buying renewable energy credits helps to support the development of alternative energy solutions, many times these programs are not specifically local. The credits you are buying may be for energy produced in a different region entirely. If part of your goal in purchasing RECs is to support and encourage the development of local renewable energy, then a generic REC may not be what you want.

The state of Michigan has recently started a new program called MI-REX (Michigan Renewable Energy Exchange), which is intended to bring together people interested in purchasing renewable energy credits with the owners of small renewable energy systems who have credits to offer. At this point the program is just in a pilot phase, and no RECs have been sold yet. The state website has an application form to gather more information about the systems people would like to register and offer credits.

This program would allow small energy producers (possibly even including individual homeowners) with wind or solar renewable energy systems from 1kW to 100kW in size to sell renewable energy credits from the power that they have produced. (A solar array of 4-5 panels or a wind turbine with a 10-12 foot diameter might be all that is needed to reach the 1 kilowatt threshold.)

This particular program is only available for producers in the state of Michigan, but other states may be developing or already offering similar programs. MI-REX RECs will be denominated in Megawatt hours or in tenths of a megawatt hour. Certificates will be issued annuallyfor the entire previous year’s production. Buyers will have to purchase the entire certificate (no partial certificates will be allowed) after which the MI-REX will be retired.

Selling RECs isn’t going to be a cash cow, but it could be a little bit more assistance in paying for a renewable energy system. A wind turbine that is generating an average of 500 kWh/month (a reasonable figure for a well situated household wind turbine ) could earn $120 from selling the RECs if they were sold for 2 cents per kWh (or $20 per MWh).

MI-REX credits are expected to first be available in early 2008 for RECs generated during 2007.

Real Renewable Energy vs. Renewable Energy Credits

Philip Proefrock — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:57:47 +0000

A couple of my friends have recently asked about the new renewable energy credit program that our local electricity utility, DTE Energy, is now offering. One friend asked me about it directly, and another raised the question on the state mailing list for the o2 Network. There was an interesting discussion about the topic on the 02 list, and I’ve included some of the information that other people shared on that list in this article.

In southeast Michigan, the local electricity company is DTE Energy. Although it has (or had) a number of business units exploring all manner of alternative energy production, DTE has been relatively resistive to including any renewable energy in its portfolio. Despite consumer demand for green energy, DTE has no plans to construct anything, and has been very resistive to connecting alternative producers to its grid. (This is the same company that fought against connecting a wind turbine installed at a local middle school from connecting to the grid.)

Looking at the renewable energy credit (REC) program that DTE is offering, there isn’t much to it. DTE is offering now has two options for residential customers. One is a premium of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on all electricity used. The other is to buy RECs in blocks of 100 kWh for $2.50 each (2.5 cents per kWh). These are supposed to come from in-state sources, to the greatest extent possible, but DTE has argued that there aren’t many in-state sources available to them.

Michigan’s Pubic Service Commission "Opinion and Order" (PDF) regarding DTE’s program recognizes the comments and criticism about the program and how much (or how little) it will do to encourage the development of renewable energy production in the state of Michigan.

"The primary criticism of the RRP made in the comments centers on the issue of whether and how much the proposed program will encourage development of in-state or in-service-territory renewable resources. Some of the commenters are of the opinion that procuring RECs alone will not prove sufficient to support the development of in-state renewable resources. Other commenters criticize the company’s proposal because Detroit Edison’s only responsibility will be to act as a broker that buys RECs at one price and sells them at a higher price."

The order from MPSC specifically disallows DTE from providing some out-of-state RECs, and has tried to steer the program toward emphasizing in-state energy production as much as possible. A presentation on the Ann Arbor (MI) website notes that "Importing Energy Means Exporting $$$" and goes on to add that 100% of the coal, 96% of the oil, and 75% of the natural gas used in the state is imported. This amounts to an annual outflow of $18 billion from the state. And this is exactly why Michigan (and the rest of the country, too) needs to develop local, renewable energy resources.

As tepid as the DTE program may seem, it’s the only program that I’m aware of that specifically includes funding development of alternative sources of energy in the state of Michigan. On the positive side, some fraction of the proceeds of the REC program will go toward development of in-state renewable energy. And participation in the program serves to indicate consumer interest in the program and a willingness ot pay a premium for green power.

On the downside, this is a company that has demonstrated very little interest in providing green energy for its customers. I’m not sure how much of an effect my participation in the DTE program is going to have towards actual new development. If I want to buy RECs, there are lots of providers around, and many of them are probably competitive with DTE’s rates. The REC program being offered by DTE is unlikely to do much on its own to spur the development of additional in-state sources of renewable energy.

On the other hand, a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) would mandate that a certain percentage of a utility’s power come from renewable sources. But that’s a whole further step, and something that some states have, but which the state of Michigan still lacks.

Right now, I’m not signed up with the new DTE program, and I’m not hurrying to do so. Once the portfolio of providers is available, I’ll re-evaluate. And in the meantime, I’m looking for another REC provider that supports renewable energy in-state.