Clean and Green drops certification

Boulder company cites expensive, difficult process

By Laura Snider , Daily Camera

Thursday, February 28, 2008

In dozens of shops and restaurants around town, customers can find signs proclaiming "This Business Is Wind Powered" above the logo for local company Clean and Green.

Clean and Green is one of many brokers in the U.S. selling renewable-energy credits, which allow customers with no direct access to wind power to buy the environmental benefits of renewable energy produced elsewhere. But the Boulder-based company recently dropped its nationally recognized certification that lets customers know they're actually getting what they're buying.

Buying RECs helps financially support renewable energy, allowing startup wind and solar companies to compete more easily with traditional coal- and gas-fired power plants.

To assure customers that their money is actually going to new renewable-energy development and that the RECs are not being double sold, many companies have sought validation from the country's major third-party certifier, Green-e.

"One of the main points of Green-e is transparency for the consumers," said Jeff Swenerton, communications director for the certification program. "We make sure consumers can find out where their energy came from. It has to be real and verified."

Clean and Green has no problem with the certification program, Executive Director Gerry Dameron said, but it couldn't justify the cost anymore.

Dameron says 135 businesses have signed up to buy wind energy through the company.

"We called Green-e and said, 'Look, we appreciate what you guys do, and we'd love to be Green-e-certified in the future, but we can't afford all the fees," he said. "We can't afford to spend $6,000 a year. Our company has never made a profit, and I've never drawn a salary, not one dime."

But for some of Clean and Green's customers, the certification is essential, similar to companies that must be certified to legally label their products organic.

"I think - not knowing a lot about the industry - that the Green-e certification is a strong brand and it's important to be certified," said Blake Jones, president of Namaste Solar Electric, which has used Clean and Green to offset all of its vehicle miles and electricity not produced by solar. "I'm thinking, 'Hey wait a minute; this is kind of a basic thing like the organic food label.' "

Clean and Green's Dameron said his product hasn't changed, and the only difference is the money and time he's saving.

"There's a very elaborate and expensive process that they require," he said. "It's a way that the industry is culling out the small providers. It's becoming more and more a corporate game."

Green-e officials don't dispute that certification is difficult, but they're not apologizing, either.

"The Green-e certification - it really is a pain," Swenerton said. "But that's part of the point. If it were an easy certification, it wouldn't mean anything to the consumer."

Buying a renewable-energy credit allows an individual or business to support wind energy financially even if it is not available locally. The credits represent the environmental benefits of using renewable energy instead of traditionally produced power.

One renewable-energy credit is created for each kilowatt-hour of energy generated from a wind farm. Those credits are often sold by the wind farm to a third-party broker like Clean and Green.

• February 28, 2008

  9:07 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  SASQUATCH writes:

  "This Business Is BS Powered"

  Come on in and buy our all-organic, range fed, no-MSG, no- artificial coloring, no-preservatives added, all-natural bean sprouts. Check your Birkenstocks at the front door marked EXIT. The usual Tuesday A.M. drowning polar bear rescue demonstration will be held in the store refrigerator.

• February 28, 2008

  9:08 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Gene writes:

  Who does the $6,000 / year fee go to? Assume it goes to "Green-e." I would love to know more about this "expensive and difficult process." The temptation is to think the whole thing is a scam. Please Ms. Snider, keep digging and explain how this whole thing works.

• February 29, 2008

  9:09 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  justright writes:

  Carbon Credits?
  Feel good Liberals!
  Very wealthy scammers!
  It seems I heard attorney John Suthers talking about the new big time scam, carbon credits, just the other day on the radio. It seems wealthy people are willing to part with their money at an alarming rate. Or you could I say it is pure marketing dollars being spent by businesses to make a profit. It is clear the money goes to a 3rd party and then a 4th party and on and on until the money is gone. Oh I am sure some of the money finds its way to help build a wind mill but I just bet most is eaten up in "fees".