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Did you know that as a residential customer you can choose to purchase renewable energy for your household? Some electricity companies offer Green Pricing as an optional service. Here’s how it works: if the customer pays a premium, the power company will use the premium to purchase renewable energy and add it to their power supply mix. Contact your local power company to see if this is an option for you.
Some areas also allow competition among electricity generators through Competitive Electricity Markets. The clean power generators can then sell directly to customers which allows the customer to choose who generates their energy. Again, this competitive market is designed with the idea that the customers will pay a little more in order to ensure their electricity is sourced from renewables.
If neither of the above options are available in your area, you can still support renewable energy by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates. Each REC represents a megawatt hour of electricity produced and delivered to the power grid by a renewable resource. Since most renewable projects send their power to the same electric grid as coal and gas-fired generators, the RECs ensure that your purchase is renewable. All RECs are tracked, so once you purchase a REC it is retired so no one else can claim to use it. To understand better about how RECs work, check out this short video.
You can purchase RECs either through your utility company or individually. About 850 utility companies offer a green power program with the option to purchase your RECs directly through them. If your power company does not offer that option, you may purchase RECs through a third party company. Green-e is an organization that certifies REC providers and offers a database and links to suppliers who sell certified RECs.
Not only does choosing green power reduce your personal environmental impact, it also drives up the demand for cleaner energy, encouraging more companies to invest in renewables.
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