frequently asked questions

Why buy green energy?

Despite advances in pollution controls over the last 30 years, conventional power generation is still the nation's single largest source of industrial air pollution.  By buying green power instead of conventional power, customers can reduce the environmental impact caused by their use of electricity and fossil fuel. 

For example, every kilowatt-hour (kWh) of renewable power avoids emissions of nearly 2 lbs of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global warming.  An average house can use up to 1,000 kWh of electricity per month, and buying 100% green power could remove over 20,000 lbs of CO2 per year, according to the EPA.  That's the equivalent of taking nearly 2 cars off the road per year, or planting 239 trees.  Since nearly 80% of greenhouse gas emissions are from carbon dioxide created by burning fossil fuels, every bit of green power bought means you're helping to reduce the effects of global climate change.

Buying green power also reduces harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.  Conventional power generation accounts for 66% of the nation's sulfur dioxide emissions, which causes acid rain and respiratory illnesses.  About 25% of nitrogen oxide emissions come from electricity generation.

Buying green energy is also good for the economy and helps the U.S. become less dependent on foreign energy sources. In fact, the Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated that if 10% of the nation's supply was from renewable electricity, a net of 91,000 new jobs would be created. A 10% green power share would also create economic development of $41.5 billion in new capital investment, $5.7 billion in income to farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners, and $2.8 billion in new local tax revenues, while reducing global warming pollution equal to taking up to 32 million cars off the road, plus less haze, smog, acid rain, mercury contamination, and water use.

What types of energy are green?

Typically, green or renewable energy includes natural sources that replenish themselves over short periods of time.  These can include solar power, wind power, certain types of hydropower, power from organic plant and waste material (biomass), and power from the earth’s heat (geothermal).  States or regions have their own definitions of what power sources are considered "renewable."

How do I know green power is really green?

Green power can be certified and verified by several non-profit organizations.  Two of the leading organizations are the Center for Resource Solutions’ Green-e program and Environmental Resources Trust Inc. 

What are some different ways to buy green power?

Customers have a variety of ways to buy green power, depending on their preference and where they live.

First, there are different ways to determine the amount of green power you want to buy.  One of the ways is to buy green power as fixed percentage of your electricity usage.  For example, you could buy a product that has 20% green power, 50% green power, or 100% green power.  No matter how much electricity you use per month, your usage will always be green by that fixed percentage.

Another way to buy green energy is by purchasing "blocks" of green power.  For example, you could choose to buy 100 kWh of green power every month, no matter how much electricity you use.  Some months, this may be 10% of your total usage, some months it may be higher, some months it may be lower.

For customers in certain parts of the country, the only way to buy green power may be to purchase Renewable Energy Credit (RECs), sometimes called green tags, green energy certificates, or tradable renewable certificates.  A REC represents the technology and environmental attributes of electricity generated from renewable resources.

A REC represents one megawatt-hour (MWh) or 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green energy produced and delivered into the power grid.  For every REC produced, 1 MWh of dirtier, conventional power is displaced.  RECs can be used for customers to buy green power when they aren't given the opportunity to buy green energy from their utility.  Although the utility will still sell conventional power to the customer, the customer will offset that power with cleaner, renewable electricity somewhere else on the grid by buying RECs.  A typical home using 1,000 kWh per month could thus buy 1 REC to offset their entire monthly power use with green energy.