Yahoo! Invests in Renewable Energy
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 04.20.06
Yahoo! The internet service provider is joining up with other big companies (Whole Foods, Aspen Skiing Company, Interface and even the 2006 World Cup, just to name a few) in purchasing renewable energy credits (insert yodel here). They've joined up with the Santa Clara Green Power renewable energy program to purchase 804,000 kWh of clean renewable energy credits, derived from new wind and solar generation sources in California. This wind and solar energy commitment is in line with Yahoo! for Good, the company's community relations program. This commitment prevents the annual release of more than 800,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, a key greenhouse gas and is equivalent to planting 108 acres of forest or removing 70 cars from the road for a year; no word on what percentage of their energy usage the purchase represents. ::Silicon Vally Power via ::GreenBiz and ::sustainablog
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What is a "renewable energy credit"? If the RECs were not bought, wouldn't the renewable energy enter the grid anyway? Therefore, the purchase of the RECs isn't actually changing anything, just providing an extra income stream?
That sounds fantastic, I love when big companies buy into renewable energy. Just a curiousity question: does anyone know how long it takes for one wind turbine to offset the carbon emissions released during the manufacturing of the turbine itself? I know there are a lot of variables, but is there a general benchmark?
I like this, I think we should aim to run (specifically) all computers from renewable energy. Why?
They do not feed, clothe or shelter us, so they are effectively a luxury. But because they have so quickly gone from luxury->habit->need they have added another layer of energy consumption to our baseline, and I doubt they will ever now go away (who's going to turn the internet off?!).
So if you targetted PCs specifically for renewables, you could get that part of our CO2 output back to say 80's levels, and then perhaps we could see energy consumption reductions in terms of the advantages of teleworking, email over post etc.
I reckon I use 0.25kWh a week at least reading Treehugger - I wonder if that is a net addition to my energy use? Do all these useful tips reduce my energy use by at least 0.25 kWh a week? Hmmmmm?!!!
The Renewable Energy Credit, or REC, is what is sold by companies to off-set the development cost of renewable projects. The REC is a requirement for these projects because the cost of developing renewable energy is still very expensive Without the REC, a green project would be unable to sustain operation . However, it is not related to the electron that actually powers your home and therefore can not be sold back to the grid. The REC is an intangible product.....not actual power. Companies can purchase these REC's to off-set the pollution from other, more damaging, sources of energy production.
So the REC is essentially a donation to the wind power company? How does that "offset" other energy use?
So the REC is essentially a donation to the wind power company? How does that "offset" other energy use?
No, it's not a donation. If it were a donation, then there would be no limit to the number of RECs you could buy, and no need for the wind company to generate any electricity.
It offsets other energy use by creating the market and return on investment that gets the wind farm built in the first place.
Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org
www.ifnotwind.org
Wind turbines and carbon:
Just a [curiosity] question: does anyone know how long it takes for one wind turbine to offset the carbon emissions released during the manufacturing of the turbine itself? I know there are a lot of variables, but is there a general benchmark?
To my knowledge, this is not an issue that has been looked at much, if at all. However, a pretty good substitute is to look at studies of wind power's "net energy payback." Here is one such study.
Brief summary: the energy payback on a wind turbine (time it takes to generate the amount of energy used to manufacture it) is quite rapid.
Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.awea.org
www.ifnotwind.org