Upgrade your home to clean energy, through the power of renewable energy certificates

What are Renewable Energy Certificates?

When a wind or solar farm generates a megawatt-hour of electricity, a renewable energy certificate (REC) is created. Once electricity is on the power grid, it’s impossible to distinguish the source of that electricity, so RECs track the production and use of clean energy. 

The federal government, along with state regulatory and legislative authorities, recognizes renewable energy certificates (RECs) as the credible way to track renewable energy content in electricity products, and for a consumer to legally claim they are using clean energy. In short, RECs are the “clean” in “clean energy.”For more in depth reading on the legal basis of RECs, please see the Center for Resource Solutions' paper on the Legal Basis for Renewable Energy Certificates (pdf).

RECs are tracked through registries such as PJM-EIS and NYGATS, and include several data attributes including renewable fuel type, renewable facility location, the vintage (date) of both the project and the power generation, unique identification number, utility to which project is interconnected, eligibility for certification or renewable portfolio standard (RPS), and the emissions rate of the renewable resource.

Using RECs to upgrade your electricity to 100% clean energy

Clean Energy Option connects consumers to wind and solar farms through a digital subscription that matches home electricity use with renewable energy certificates (RECs). 

One of the reasons renewable energy certificates are so valuable is because they allow anyone to connect to clean energy. Most Americans cannot access rooftop solar. Renting, owning a condo, having a shaded or north-facing room, financial hurdles or simply a busy lifestyle can all be reasons why you might not want to invest in rooftop solar. 

And if so, Clean Energy Option is the simple, convenient digital solution for you.

Become a Clean Energy Option member

With Clean Energy Option, there’s no risk, no up-front cost, and no contracts or cancellation fees. For the average household, it costs just $25 a month to upgrade the electricity they purchase from their utility provider to 100% clean energy.

RECs are commonly used

You may have heard of big companies like Starbucks, Apple, and Google using RECs to track how they meet their carbon-reduction goals. Thousands of companies, states, and cities big and small are using RECs to track their clean energy use. 

Now you can do the same. When you purchase electricity from your utility company, plus renewable energy certificates with CleanChoice, you’ll be powering your home with clean energy - and helping add more clean energy to the grid.

Enroll in Clean Energy Option

Our Renewable Energy Certificates

CleanChoice purchases renewable energy certificates from dozens of solar and wind farms. Here are a few of the farms we worked with in 2022:

The demand for renewable energy certificates supports the financial health of wind and solar farms, and also drives investment in future clean energy sources. The end result: the women and men working to transition the grid to clean energy can build more clean energy.

It's not just big companies that have a responsibility to use clean energy. Each of us has an opportunity to do our part to create a greener, cleaner future. Apple, Google, and Starbucks all use renewable energy certificates to track how they’re meeting their carbon reduction goals - now you can too.

Support wind and solar farms with your Clean Energy Option subscription

To Learn More

To learn more about how REC’s work and the important role of RECs in making clean energy possible for electricity consumers nationwide, please see the Environmental Protection Agency’s webpage on RECs and this video.