Your Questions About Renewable Energy Certificates

admin answers:

Actual learning is a very personal activity performed by the individual…

There are three ways to educate one’s self: 1) go to school and following the instructions given by the teacher/professor 2) get a job in the industry and learn through a combination of the on-the-job instruction provided and personal experience 3) seek your own information. In the very real world in general, and in particular those career/job areas that are more technically oriented, the people who perform best and have the best longevity do all three on a continual basis.

Back to your very real problem of learning more about solar energy…The principles of solar energy, how the technology works, and how the technology generates electricity or powers things up are all based in physics. Of course, calculus was developed/invented/written to mathematically describe physics. And, in the past couple of hundred years, on a increasing rate, it is being discovered that many things in the physical world (the world of physics) are related to the chemical world (the world of chemistry); the converse is also true although, the division lines between physics and chemistry have not blended as well as the lines between psychology and sociology. Being able to communicate is also critical so, a little drafting and English/writing are probably called for. Depending upon what you want to do in the world of solar energy, you may even want some engineering which is ok because, physics, chemistry, calculus, being able to draw a bit, being able to write a memo, and draft a report are all things that are important in engineering too.

Solar energy, renewable energy, alternative energy, and even traditional energy all rest on the same, very fundamental concepts. Even if your search is more based in actual installation concepts, having a fundamental understanding of electricity will serve you well; how many times have vehicle mechanics struggled over the wiring in of a sound system or trailer lights because they lack an understanding of electricity, how to read a wiring diagram, or how to use electricity measurement equipment? If your search is more along the lines of being able to decide how many solar panels are required and/or at what angle then you will need both the skills and the language of mathematics. But, if as you indicate above, your interest lies more in honestly understanding the renewable energy technologies – These are all specialized applications of the basic principles and learning a bit about the basic principles are critical to understanding the specialized applications. You can think of it as being somewhat like learning how to drive different types of vehicles. The rules of the road are pretty much the same regardless of what vehicle you drive; all have some sort of steering, acceleration, and braking system that are operated pretty much similarly; as you start to divide yourself into automatic versus manual transmissions things start to change a bit although on many automatic cars you can “shift on the gas pedal” pedal; and so on. True, an automatic golf cart seems hardly similar to some of the older split axel semi’s but, there are still a number of similarities as they take off from a stop.

Check in to your local CC and/or Voc Tech to find out if there is a program in the pipeline. Also, discuss what your goals are and find out what they are able to provide you in terms of valuable background education, information, and certificates/degrees. If possible, try to get to talk to an actual instructor, program director, or department head; physics and/or engineering are good candidates. Mean while, turn to your local library, the school library if you are able, and the internet to read, read, and read all you can about solar and other alternative energies.

admin answers:

Buying a renewable-energy credit allows an individual or business to financially support wind energy even if it is not available locally. The credits technically represent the environmental benefits of using renewable energy instead of traditionally produced power.

To understand how the complicated concept works, it’s helpful to realize that the various attributes associated with producing electricity can be separated into partsIn the case of wind power, there is the actual electricity generated — which is fed into a power grid where it is mixed with electricity that may have been generated by coal, natural

gas or even nuclear reactions — and there are the environmental benefits of the way the electricity is produced.

Unlike burning fossil fuels, wind generation does not produce dangerous particulates, sulfur dioxides, nitrogen oxides or carbon dioxide. Renewable-energy certificates represent the value of not dumping those pollutants into the atmosphere.

Separating the electricity from the environmental benefits allows people who are actually receiving the wind power — but who don’t want to pay the added costs of renewable energy — to pay the same rate they would pay for traditionally generated electricity. It also gives people who do not have direct access to wind-generated power the ability to purchase renewable-energy credits, which helps the wind company to stay competitive even without willing customers in the area of the wind farm.

One renewable-energy credit is created for each kilowatt-hour of energy generated from a wind farm. Those credits are often sold by the wind farm to a third-party broker, who then resells it to customers for a profit.

Businesses or residents who buy the same number of kilowatt-hours’ worth of renewable-energy credits that they use each month often say they are 100 percent wind-powered. The electricity they actually are using, however, probably comes from traditional sources, such as coal or natural gas.

What the critics are saying:

Renewable-energy credits are just a form of checkbook environmentalism, which allow people with money to soothe their consciences without making any real efforts to reduce environmental problems.

Many companies aren’t transparent about where the RECs are coming from and how much of the consumer’s money actually makes it back to the wind farm.

They allow the middle man to make a handsome profit without substantially benefiting the wind farms.

They advertise benefits that aren’t real in the short term — like eliminating carbon dioxide and adding new wind power to the grid.

What supporters are saying:

Renewable-energy credits provide important revenue for wind farms, which must compete with the heavily subsidized oil and gas industry.

They are a first step for the concerned public in the fight against greenhouse gases — they give the individual some power instead of waiting for the local utility to develop renewable energy.

Once you’ve taken all the energy-efficiency measures you can, it makes sense to buy credits to cover the electricity you have to use.

They are bringing the discussion about wind energy into the mainstream dialogue.

Some big names

buying RECs:

The University of Colorado purchased 11.2 million kilowatt-hours’ worth of RECs from Community Energy, which roughly equates to between 9 percent and 12 percent of the school’s energy use.

Vail Resorts, based in Broomfield, bought 152 million kilowatt-hours from Renewable Choice Energy, which officials say offsets 100 percent of the conventionally produced electricity they burn at all five of their mountain resorts in a year.

Whole Foods Market purchased 458 million kilowatt-hours to offset all the energy used in its stores, facilities, bake houses, distribution centers, regional offices and national headquarters in the United States and Canada.