Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report (2008 Data)

Technical Report · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1219267· OSTI ID:1219267

Bird, Lori ^[1]; Kreycik, Claire ^[1]; Friedman, Barry ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Voluntary consumer decisions to buy electricity supplied from renewable energy sources represent a powerful market support mechanism for renewable energy development. In the early 1990s, a small number of U.S. utilities began offering 'green power' options to their customers. Since then, these products have become more prevalent, both from traditional utilities and from renewable energy marketers operating in states that have introduced competition into their retail electricity markets or offering renewable energy certificates (RECs) online. Today, more than half of all U.S. electricity customers have an option to purchase some type of green power product directly from a retail electricity provider, while all consumers have the option to purchase RECs. This report documents green power marketing activities and trends in the United States including utility green pricing programs offered in regulated electricity markets; green power marketing activity in competitive electricity markets, as well as green power sold to voluntary purchasers in the form of RECs; and renewable energy sold as greenhouse gas offsets in the United States. These sections are followed by a discussion of key market trends and issues. The final section offers conclusions and observations.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Energy Information Administration (EIA), Office of Energy Analysis; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1219267
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP--6A2-46581; 5238
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
Barry Friedman
Claire Kreycik
Lori Bird
NREL
RECs
electricity
electricity markets
energy consumers
green power marketing
green pricing
greenhouse gas offsets
renewable energy
renewable energy certificates
utilities