I have two questions about carbon offsetting (aka, green tags, renewable energy credits, tradeable renewable certificates), where you pay a company some amount of money so they can price wind or other sustainable electricity generation the same as conventional (usually coal) electricity. The idea is that by allowing them to price this electricity cheaper, more of it goes onto the grid, displacing coal-generated electricity, thereby allowing you to deduct the offset amount from your personal carbon footprint.
First question: Why is wind energy more expensive than coal energy? Is it just initial investment in building wind farms? Is it because of archaic subsidies? Second question: If the money goes to investing in building new wind farms (as claimed on NativeEnergy.com), why not just buy stock in the sustainable energy companies instead? Or in a clean energy exchange-traded fund (ETF)? I have an aversion to just giving for-profit companies money. It seems to me that it would make more sense to invest in the companies, not just give them gifts, even if the investment doesn't make a return (in which case it would be effectively giving them a gift, I guess). I've poured over several web sites, including the Wikipedia article on "green tags", NativeEnergy.com, and Bonneville Environmental Foundation <http://www.b-e-f.org>, apparently the only non-profit to offer renewable energy credits. None of these really addressed my questions. Thanks, Tim -- --------------------------------- Tim Nuttle, PhD Research Assistant Professor Department of Biological Sciences University of Pittsburgh A234 Langley Hall 4249 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA ---------------------------------
