Voluntary REC Market
Major corporations, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and government agencies have committed to purchasing green power or offsetting their carbon emissions through the voluntary purchase of RECs.
To learn more about how your organization can use RECs to improve your environmental footprint, email us.
In many cases these “voluntary RECs” have been traded as an alternative methodology for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The premise behind these purchases is that electricity generated by a renewable energy source displaces carbon dioxide emissions from traditional fossil fuel-fired electric generation, thereby reducing CO2 emissions. Where utilities are not already obligated to purchase RECs under an RPS or are not offering green energy, RECs are being sold to willing buyers.
An example of these voluntary purchases is the Green Power Purchasing Program offered by the EPA. Participants of this program include Fortune 500 companies, federal, state and local government agencies, and universities, who have offset from 4% to 100% of their conventional electricity usage. In the July 2007, report the top 25 members of the Green Power Partnership offset 5,906,432,631 kWh of conventional electricity.