Energy Sustainability Consulting
- Demonstrating civic leadership
- Generating positive publicity
- Improving employee morale
- Differentiating products, services and brands
- Attracting new customers and employees
- Providing a hedge against risks posed by electricity price instability, fuel supply disruptions and environmental regulation
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Through Green Procurement
Virtually every business activity, from powering a fleet of vehicles to manufacturing products to flying employees to meetings, emits greenhouse gases (GHG), including CO2 which are negatively impacting the environment. The environmental impact of an organization is referred to as its carbon footprint, which measures the total GHG emitted directly and indirectly by that organization. Direct emissions result from activities that the organization controls, like operating a facility and producing a product, and from using electricity for things like lighting, heating, and powering equipment. Indirect emissions are those that the organization is responsible for but does not control, like the carbon emitted by suppliers who deliver raw materials for the manufacturing operations.
Three Easy Ways To Increase Sustainability Through Procurement
- Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) represent the environmental, social or other positive attributes of power generated by renewable resources like sun, wind, moving water, geothermal, or other natural sources. For example, RECs represent the reduced emissions of renewable generation compared with those of conventional generation. RECs are purchased separately from, and in addition to, your conventional commodity energy supply. 1 MWh of power generated from renewable resources = 1 REC.
- Green Power is conventionally-produced energy bundled with RECs. Green power can be purchased from power suppliers as a single premium product.
- Emissions Allowances and Credits can be purchased to offset your facility’s carbon footprint or reach other environmental goals such as acid rain or smog mitigation. Emissions Allowances represent rights to emit carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx) or other pollutants. Emissions Credits represent reductions in these emissions relative to an established baseline. Examples are carbon credits, SO2 allowances and NOx allowances.
Tradition Energy’s environmental products, include:
- Renewable Energy Power
- Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
- California Carbon Markets
- Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)
- CAIR NOx and SO2
- California RECLAIM Credits (RTCs)
- Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) NOx Allowances
- Verified Emission Reductions (VERs)
- Emission Reduction Credits (ERCs) – for facility expansion
Achieve Sustainability With Solar
It is becoming easier for organizations to incorporate solar energy into their energy mix to become more sustainable, as many states offer incentives to adding solar panels and solar arrays to your building or property.
The benefits of going solar:
- Peace of mind: going solar acts as a long-term hedge for some of the most volatile and expensive hours
- Predictability: solar energy provides known, transparent, and predictable energy costs
- Affordability: solar energy has a low “all-in” price that is very competitive, which can save you money from day one
- Supportive of corporate goals: solar energy enhances sustainability and cost-reduction initiatives
- Impressive: potential and existing customers and suppliers perceive solar panels as a positive marketing tool
The benefits of integrating solar into your existing retail supply:
- Solar can save you money on more than just energy costs: in addition to reducing energy costs, solar energy offsets several energy-related charges including ancillary services, line losses, and delivery charges. Customers’ transmission and distribution charges are reduced including during the expensive peak load summer months.
- Solar acts as a long-term retail supply hedge: Couple any onsite solar installation with an option for a 10-year retail supply agreement to balance energy costs. Many of these hedges are not available through traditional supply arrangements.
- Solar energy can reduce your remaining retail price, which can balance energy costs after installation: because solar energy removes some of the peak energy a customer uses daily, it may reduce the overall retail supply price once installed.