Tradition Energy helps clients reduce energy consumption and emissions as part of adopting more sustainable business practices.  We provide an integrated set of business processes, tools and capabilities to reduce energy costs, improve supply alternatives and manage associated risks.  As an important part of a comprehensive energy management plan, a thoughtfully developed sustainability strategy can help an organization meet many environmental, financial, and stakeholder relations objectives, including:

• 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

Using Tradition Energy for energy sustainability consulting can help you calculate your organization’s carbon footprint and develop ways to reduce and/or offset it. Once you know the impact of your activities, there are two things you can do. First, you can reduce direct emissions by improving efficiency of lighting and equipment; opting for videoconferencing over flying to meetings, or switching you vehicle fleet to hybrid models. You can also reduce indirect emissions by selecting partners and suppliers who have committed to reducing their own carbon footprints. These changes help, but it’s nearly impossible to reduce your emissions to zero. Another option is to purchase carbon offsets to reduce the remainder of your organization’s environmental footprint.

Offsets, or credits, are created when a project or an organization emits less carbon relative to a baseline, with that baseline established using a standardized methodology. The offset creator may then sell to someone who wants to reduce their carbon footprint but may not have cost effective options in-house. Typically, offset sales are used to finance carbon-reduction initiatives like methane capture, renewable energy and reforestation projects.

1. 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.
2. Green Power is conventionally-produced energy bundled with RECs. Green power can be purchased from power suppliers as a single premium product.
3. 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.

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.

Tradition Energy ensures your organization’s goals and objectives are matched to the correct green product. We can facilitate the purchase of the correct certified product and arrange for third-party verification of purchases which meet specific market standards.