Sustainability - - A Focus On Carbon

One paper that recently crossed my desk helps immensely with keeping track of all the numerous studies conducted on deep de-carbonization of the electric grid.  It's well written, concise, and provides an even-handed review of the challenges shifting to a high level of renewables use.  In the process, it discusses in a very readable and straightforward way various stages in shifting the electric sector from where it is today to different levels of future renewable electricity generating sources. Click this link to read the study. image courtesy of c|net

As   this   paper explains, RECs - bundled with the electricity or unbundled from it - transfers ownership of the   attributes  (not electricity if unbundled)  of the renewable to the REC purchaser.  Earlier in the same paper, the authors note that the Superior Court of New Jersey has ruled, " One Renewable Energy Certificate represents the   environmental benefits   or attributes   of one megawatt-hour of generated renewable energy."[Emphasis added] One cheap way to achieve that goal is for Portland to buy RECs.   Let's figure out how many REC's Portland needs to purchase to reduce its carbon footprint 100%.  Keep in mind that all the vehicles, industrial processes, commercial processes, how electricity is generated, and other uses for fossil fuels from lawn mowers, Vespas, gas grills, and on and on would still be in use.   We need four pieces of information: (1) where the renable project assocaited with one REC is located, (2) Portland's current car

That's a very good question.  We need to look closely. Q1: Has any existing fossil-fuel generation facility reduced its production in MWh as a direct result of  the utility, say PGE, purchasing RECs? If it can be shown that an existing fossil fuel generator has reduced its production such that it's clear that it  isn't (1) a scheduled outage, or (2) an unscheduled outage, or (3) due to any issue with the power system, then and only then can it be claimed that carbon emissions has declined as a direct result of replacing the output of a fossil fuel electricity generator with that of a renewable (wind, water, sum, etc) production.  Then and only then can it be claimed that carbon emissions have actually declined. Q2: Could the purchase of RECs replace a new fossil fuel generator? Yes, it could.  However, the electricity from the renewable generator must be bundled with the REC in order to claim the carbon reductions.  If the electricity from the renewable generator an