Why Renewable Energy Credits?
The Best Way for You to Support Renewable Energy Sources
Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) are the best way for most consumers to minimize the negative environmental effects of their electricity usage. This is because in most places, it is impractical - if not impossible - to actually have electricity from Renewable sources delivered to your home. And that is why there are RECs.
RECs allow you to buy Renewable without having to transport the Energy from the source to your home or business.
What's different about Renewable Energy, and why should we buy Renewable?
What's different and better about Renewable Energy is the way that it is produced. When a unit of electricity is produced from wind, there's no pollution. When a unit of electricity is produced from fossil fuels, there is of course pollution.
The purpose of buying Renewable Energy, then, is to ensure that more Renewable Energy is produced, which means less pollution. RECs fulfill this goal.
How Do RECs Support Renewable Energy Production?
RECs support Renewable Energy by allowing you to express your preference for Renewable Energy with your dollars. When you prefer one product over another product at a store, you are willing to pay more if it costs more.
If you prefer Renewable Energy Production over conventional energy production, you'll pay more, because it does cost more to produce energy this way.
The extra revenue that Renewable Energy producers receive from sales of RECs (notice that only Renewable Energy producers can receive revenue from RECs - this is what makes RECs special) provides market based rewards to the producer (not charitable contributions or subsidies, but expressions of true consumer preferences through payment of a price premium).
Why Does Renewable Energy Need Our Support?
Wind power production emits no global warming gasses and reduces pollution and other problems caused by burning of fossil fuels. The U.S. Department of Energy has estimated that we could generate up to 20% of our electricity needs with wind, yet this source currently makes up less than 1% of our electricity supply.
This means that wind is way below its potential as an energy source, and that we really are emitting a lot more global warming gasses and pollutants than we need to.
How do we help wind reach its potential? Right now, thousands of businesses and consumers nationwide are making the move to alternative energy sources by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits, or RECs. RECs are sold by renewable sources such as wind power plants, and are a way for consumers to buy the 'Renewable' part of Renewable Energy generation.
Low Cost, Great Benefit
The cost is extremely low (less than 50 cents per day), and the benefit is great - by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits equivalent to a year's worth of electricity consumption, you minimize the effect of your household's electricity consumption on the environment.
You're Not Alone
In 2006, businesses and consumers bought 8.8 billion kilowatt-hours of Green-e Energy certified RECs - double the 2005 volume, and representing enough Renewable Energy to power about 1 million homes for a year (Green-e Energy is a nationally recognized Renewable Energy certification program run by the Center for Resource Solutions in San Francisco, CA).
Learn More
You can learn more about RECs here.
Premier Energy's Renewable Energy Credit products are Green-e Energy certified. In business since 2002, Premier is also a licensed energy retailer that has helped consumers through energy cost savings and price stability. To learn more about us, please click here.
Fact: 54% of Americans say they would pay for Renewable Energy (Deloitte Study, 2007).
Questions? Please Contact Us - we'd love to hear from you!
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