The Light Behind Green Power in DC

Contributed by:

Mike Healy
Partner, Skyline Innovations
mhealy@skylineinnovations.com
202.306.7900

There has been some recent discussion about DC’s Green Power initiative and the matter of purchasing REC’s over producing green power within the DC area and so  Mike Healy will cover the nuances of the matter! – Mike Kiefer

Like many Washingtonians I am delighted to see the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognize the District of Columbia as a leading green power community.  Through its commitment to green power the District is no-doubt demonstrating to cities across America that sustainable energy is an increasingly critical part of our infrastructure as well as a sound business decision.  I applaud the commitment Mayor Gray and District Department of the Environment Director, Christoph Tulou, have made towards renewable energy sources as well as their vision to see the beneficial health and environmental impacts these technologies will have in our communities.  That said, I think it is critical to clarify what exactly the Green Power Community program is and what it is not.

Mayor Gray was quoted as saying, “The purchase of green power by our citizens and businesses is cleaning our air and supporting growth of the clean energy economy.” Maybe, but who’s air and who’s economy? We are not necessarily clearing the air that the residents of the District of Columbia breathe, and while we are supporting the growth of the clean energy economy, it’s not the District’s clean energy economy.

The reason for this is quite complicated, but boils down to the mechanism used to incentivize the development and installation of renewable energy systems in the United States.  When the EPA refers to the District as purchasing “green power” it does not mean we are literally purchasing electrons that travel directly from wind or biomass sites  that end-up powering our lights and coffee-makers here in the District.  No, it means we are purchasing “Renewable Energy Credits” (RECs) which represents the green attributes of renewable energy that was generated and is powering lights and coffee-makers somewhere, but not necessarily the District of Columbia.  Through our purchase of RECs we are, in all likelihood, supporting wind projects in Minnesota and South Dakota or biomass facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan.  The District may claim the rights to this renewable energy, but it does not mean it is cleaning our air and our environment.

So how do we accomplish what Mayor Gray and Mr. Tulou, have proposed?  The answer is simple: solar energy.  Solar energy is currently the only practical form of localized energy generation, let alone renewable energy generation, that can provide real benefits right here in the District.  Solar energy systems can be distributed throughout our city, providing power and clean energy while accomplishing Mayor Gray and Mr. Tulou’s goals of cleaning our air and supporting the growth of the clean energy economy.

So how do we get to this blue skied world?

Councilmember Mary Cheh holds some of the answers, and Councilmember Yvette Alexander holds the proverbial key to unlock these answers.  Cheh is sponsoring The Distributed Generation Amendment Act of 2011 which is a bill that focuses on developing and installing more solar projects directly in the District of Columbia and fixes a loophole that currently allows solar systems from as far away as Chicago, Illinois to count towards the District’s solar energy goals. Instead, this bill requires solar systems that count towards the city’s solar energy goals to be located on the District’s distribution grid- providing benefits like cleaning our air, stabilizing our electricity grid, and creating jobs for the residents of the District of Columbia.

As is true of the Green Power Community Program, solar energy is not free. Solar energy is an investment just like anything else.  But we all need to ask ourselves if we want to invest in local solar energy projects that create local jobs, help create a cleaner local environment, and make our local energy supply more stable for years to come; or would we prefer to continue to send billions of our dollars out of our local economy each year to support the construction of another coal fired power plant, transmission lines, or even, in this case, wind projects hundreds of miles away?

So while I am very excited to see our city leading the way as a green power purchaser, I also want to see our city lead the way as a green power generator.  And if we are going to achieve Mayor Gray and Mr. Tulou’s goals of building a local clean energy economy and cleaning our air to improve the health of our residents, particularly that of our children, we should quickly pass Councilmember Cheh’s Distributed Generation Amendment Act of 2011.

Michael Kiefer
Green DC Realty Team
Phoenix Real Estate Solutions
Realtors DC/MD/VA
www.greenDCrealty.com
www.GreenDCdaily.com
c-240.481.5041
o-301.526.5212