The Sustainability Review:
Renewable Energy Credit

A diagram of Renewable Energy Credits from the U.S. Department of Energy, 2001

I think I’m going to steer away from the house again this month and talk about something I didn’t realize was available until recently: Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). Purchasing power from renewable sources (i.e. wind, solar, biomass) has become available through many utilities during the past few years. The local utility, Avista, has the “Buck a Block” program where they offer wind power to their customers for a small premium; and Clearwater Power, a local electricity co-op, participates in a biomass project. These utilities are selling RECs and there are other companies out there that sell them as well.

I’ll do my best to explain an REC. When a power plant generates non-renewable electricity, it creates “generic” electricity that is fed into the grid for all customers to use. When a power plant generates renewable electricity (RE), it can approach it in two different ways. They can sell the power as renewable or they can sell it in two parts: “generic power” and an REC. The REC is the exclusive right to the green attributes of a unit of power. Once the utility sells an REC for a unit of power, no one but the purchaser can claim right to that unit as being renewable. For example, if I purchase a unit of power from the State Line Wind Farm in Walla Walla, I won’t receive the power they generate at my home, but I own a credit, an REC, for the power I used being replaced by wind power. If you purchase enough credits to equal the power you use, then your power is 100% renewable.

You may ask why this works and why you are guaranteed this renewable energy. Federal law requires that grid operators purchase renewable energy if it’s offered by a power plant. For every unit of power that a RE plant makes, one less unit is created by a fossil fuel source. The utility is not capable of storing power and operates on a demand basis. When consumption goes up, so does generation. If renewable energy is pumped into the grid, then that forces the fossil fuel sources to be turned down (if demand is constant) or turned up less (in the case of high demand).

Why trust your utility or a private company to spend your money on these credits? To answer the utility question, they are mandated in Washington state to prove they have a certain percentage of RE in their portfolio, and this is audited by the government. To answer the private company question, many have adopted the method of handing over your purchased credits to an independent party that handles the tracking and ensures that your credit is not sold to anyone but you. They ensure that the power plant does not sell more than they produce and track the purchases.

Why purchase an REC? By purchasing renewable energy you are contributing to domestic sources of power that are sustainable. It doesn’t consume resources nor does it contribute to climate change, in fact it can offset your CO₂ emissions significantly. Your purchase can also encourage the development of new sources of renewable power.

We purchased an REC (from NativeEnergy) for our home recently to offset 100%+ of our energy use and it cost $24 per year in addition to our regular monthly bill. This might be a titch low for most folks since our usage is pretty low, but for an average of homes I’d estimate that your bill wouldn’t go up more than $4 per month (that is for a home using 1200 kwh/month, which is a pretty large amount of electricity). Since there are many REC purchase options available, it’s best to know your consumption and contact each utility or company and see what the cost would be. I think you’ll be surprised to see how little additional it is. Much less than your total power bill.

For more information:
www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/
www.avistautilities.com/products/windpower.asp
www.clearwaterpower.com/yourchance.asp
www.nativeenergy.com
www.cleanair-coolplanet.org

Mike and his family are looking forward to using their wind-powered composting toilet.

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