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Green Energy Certificates
Sep. 10th, 2005 07:50 pmI'm learning about tradable renewable energy credits, also known as green tags and a lot of other things.
I don't quite understand how they work. Apparently a renewable energy producer sells energy for the current market price. But then they are also eligible to sell these credits for not adding certain pollutants to the environment. This way they can get enough money to stay in business.
Apparently this was designed so that polluting businesses could be given the choice to either reduce their own pollutants or to purchase these credits. If there are enough buyers for these credits, the price will go up, and more companies will want to go into the green energy business.
But now it is also possible for individuals to buy these credits. They're being marketed as a way to assuage your guilt, ahem, offset the pollution you're responsible for.
I still don't quite understand how these work, though. For example, I read in a "where does the money go FAQ" that the part leftover from marketing these credits goes toward investing in new plants. So that sounds a little different from the explanation I gave you.
Also, it seems like these litte certificates would be so easy to fake. Make a company, pull people's heartstrings, and get free money. I'm imagining the headlines: "Would-be do-gooders fleeced."
Any of you guys know about these things?
Here is a list of companies that markets green tags.
The first one I heard of was TerraPass. They let you calculate emissions from driving your car and encourage you to pay enough to neutralize those. You can also calculate how much greenhouse gas your activities create based on your use of electricity, heating, car use, and airplane use. They do not include effects of manufacturing and transporting your purchases, of your smoking, of your bus riding, or of your farting. So it's not a whole picture of your footprint in the world, but it's still pretty cool. Shockingly, unless you're living paycheck to paycheck, it looks quite affordable to do this, in the range of several hundred dollars for a year.
For more information see green-e's TRC page; they certify these green energy producers and have lots of information about these tradable renewable credits.
I haven't decided what to do about this information yet. I wonder how much money goes to a middleman. Another question (which I neither thought up nor know the answer to) is whether it would be better just to invest in green energy companies.
I don't quite understand how they work. Apparently a renewable energy producer sells energy for the current market price. But then they are also eligible to sell these credits for not adding certain pollutants to the environment. This way they can get enough money to stay in business.
Apparently this was designed so that polluting businesses could be given the choice to either reduce their own pollutants or to purchase these credits. If there are enough buyers for these credits, the price will go up, and more companies will want to go into the green energy business.
But now it is also possible for individuals to buy these credits. They're being marketed as a way to assuage your guilt, ahem, offset the pollution you're responsible for.
I still don't quite understand how these work, though. For example, I read in a "where does the money go FAQ" that the part leftover from marketing these credits goes toward investing in new plants. So that sounds a little different from the explanation I gave you.
Also, it seems like these litte certificates would be so easy to fake. Make a company, pull people's heartstrings, and get free money. I'm imagining the headlines: "Would-be do-gooders fleeced."
Any of you guys know about these things?
Here is a list of companies that markets green tags.
The first one I heard of was TerraPass. They let you calculate emissions from driving your car and encourage you to pay enough to neutralize those. You can also calculate how much greenhouse gas your activities create based on your use of electricity, heating, car use, and airplane use. They do not include effects of manufacturing and transporting your purchases, of your smoking, of your bus riding, or of your farting. So it's not a whole picture of your footprint in the world, but it's still pretty cool. Shockingly, unless you're living paycheck to paycheck, it looks quite affordable to do this, in the range of several hundred dollars for a year.
For more information see green-e's TRC page; they certify these green energy producers and have lots of information about these tradable renewable credits.
I haven't decided what to do about this information yet. I wonder how much money goes to a middleman. Another question (which I neither thought up nor know the answer to) is whether it would be better just to invest in green energy companies.