The Power of Green Power
One of the easiest ways to dramatically reduce your carbon footprint
Electricity is woven into the fabric of modern life. It is used to light our offices, heat our homes, run appliances and charge our phones. While electricity improves our standard of living, producing it comes at a cost to the environment. Globally electricity production is responsible for 31% [1] of all Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and these emissions are driving climate change.
In the U.S.A the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 27% [2] of GHG emissions come from electricity. In my home country, Australia, the Department of Energy and Environment estimates that 33% [3] of emissions come from electricity production. So where does this leave us? We need electricity, but what can we do to make it ‘greener’ and less damaging to the environment?
Knowledge is Power
The obvious answer would be to produce more of our electricity from renewable resources like wind, solar and hydro. Unless you’re a politician setting energy policy it is easy to feel like this is outside of your power to control, but that’s not exactly true. A lot of people try to ‘do their bit’ by turning off lights, buying more efficient appliances or even writing to their local representatives. These actions are important but many people aren’t aware they could have an even bigger impact by choosing renewably generated electricity. I’m not talking about installing solar panels — I’m talking about ‘Green Power’.
In almost every part of Australia [4] and in all of the U.S.A. [5] you can choose to buy Green Power. Exactly how you can achieve this will depend on where you live and regional availability. At least 50% [5] of U.S. customers have the option to purchase renewable electricity directly from their power supplier. For everyone else in the U.S. you have the option of purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). RECs are also the basis of the Australian Green Power system.
Renewable Energy Certificates: How They Work
The U.S.A. EPA definition of a Renewable Energy Certificate, or REC, is “a market-based instrument that represents the property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation.” That’s not very intuitive, but it’s not that complicated once you look into it.
It all stems from this problem: renewable energy generators (wind farms and solar farms) produce electricity and consumers may want to buy that electricity rather than the electricity produced by the coal/gas fired power stations, but once electricity has been fed into the grid, there’s no way to physically track who is getting what. So RECs are used as a way of accounting for the origin of electricity that is consumed.
A REC is issued when one megawatt-hour (1 MWh) of electricity is fed into the grid by a renewable energy generator like a solar farm or wind farm. The generator may sell the REC to a utility company, or an individual, separate to the cost of the power itself, to verify that the consumer is purchasing renewable energy.
Purchasing RECs doesn’t mean that the electrons that go to your house will be direct from a solar/wind farm, but it does allow you to displace your electricity usage with certified renewable energy. If you do this for 100% of your bill, you have net zero emissions from electricity. Since electricity generation accounts for nearly 1/3 of all GHG emissions, this is a high impact way of reducing your carbon footprint.
In fact, based on this article [7] from IOPScience, an academic journal published by the UK Institute of Physics (IOP), we’d argue that it is the HIGHEST impact action you can take to reduce your carbon footprint — without making large changes to your lifestyle. As you can see from the graph below the authors have measured the emissions saved by taking various actions. Short of having fewer children, living life without a car or flying less, buying green energy is the highest impact action you can take. This does vary by country and the carbon intensity of the grid. For example Great Britain has phased out nearly all of its coal fired power generation so the action is not as effective in the context. But in the USA, Australia and other countries with carbon intense grids it is a high impact action. Considering the time and effort spent on recycling, changing light bulbs and hang drying clothes (all still important) it would be fantastic if these bigger impact effective choices received more attention.
Consumer Choice: A Powerful Tool in a Power Hungry World
Electricity is a product that you pay for, but a lot of people seem to think about ‘utilities’ differently to regular consumer products. In effect, the cost of the REC adds a small premium to the renewable energy. The additional revenue encourages the development of additional renewable energy projects. Many people choose to pay a little extra for products that are more ethical or better align with their values, like choosing free range eggs over cage eggs. Exercising your choice as a consumer creates change and when enough people make this choice, the industry as a whole changes. By switching to Green Power, you are doing three things:
- Sending a strong signal to the market that there is a demand for clean energy.
- Showing politicians that you (a voter) are prioritizing and funding solutions to climate change.
- Helping to lower the carbon intensity of the grid by giving clean energy generators a competitive advantage over fossil fuels so they can increase their market share.
Green Power: How to Choose it and How Much it Costs
In the U.S.A. the Environmental Protection Agency [8] directs consumers to the Green-e Find Green-e Certified search tool [9] to help them locate a Green Power supplier. Cost varies by area but the EPA reports [10] that from 2006 to 2015 the average premium paid was around US$20/MWh or US$0.02/KWh. For the average American home, they estimate is an extra ~US$18/month for renewable energy.
In Australia the government accredited Green Power program estimates that for ~ AU$0.05-$0.08/KWh extra [11] you can get your electricity from renewables. That said, as of June 2020 my rate for RECs (noted on my bill as ‘Natural Power’) dropped by 35.5% to only AU$0.034383/KWh. Access to Green Power in Australia differs by state but you can find a provider through Green Power [12]. Alternatively we’ve made a guide that spells it out in more detail [4].
A Final Note on Green Power and Carbon Footprints
For those who have the means, purchasing Green Power is a high impact way to dramatically cut your carbon footprint and influence the energy industry. Not everyone will be able to afford 100% Green Power, but most retailers offer a 50%, 25% or 10% option, which can make it as cheap as a cup of coffee. Every little bit helps. As more people contribute what they can, it brings us all closer to a more sustainable world. So exercise those consumer muscles to reduce your carbon footprint. Choose Green Power.
References
1. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, 2013, “Global Manmade Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector 2013”, https://www.c2es.org/content/international-emissions/
2. EPA, 2018, “Source of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions
3. The Department of Energy and Environment, 2019, “Quarterly Update of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory”, https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/6686d48f-3f9c-448d-a1b7-7e410fe4f376/files/nggi-quarterly-update-mar-2019.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1QDEa9NW8NugBhNhXnjzOFg5oc2PvyxKrN4DymxpY_JLT4R0Nf4_gZpyo
4. Easy Carbon Solutions, 2020, “Green your Power” https://easycarbonsolutions.com/the-solutions-1
5. U. S. Department of Energy, “Buying Clean Electricity”, https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/buying-and-making-electricity/buying-clean-electricity
6. EPA accessed July 2020, “Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)”, https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/renewable-energy-certificates-recs
7. S. Wynes et al. 2017, “The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions”, IOPScience, Environ. Res. Lett. 12 074024, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541
8. EPA, accessed July 2020, “Locate Green Power Suppliers”, https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/locate-green-power-suppliers
9. Green-e, accessed July 2020, “Find Green-e Certified” search tool, https://www.green-e.org/certified-resources
10. EPA, Access July 2020, “Green Power Pricing”, https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/green-power-pricing
11. GreenPower, accessed July 2020, “How much does GreenPower cost? , https://greenpower.gov.au/About-Us/How-Much-Does-GreenPower-Cost/#
12. GreenPower, accessed July 2020, “find a provider” https://www.greenpower.gov.au/Homes/Find-a-Provider/
