Page 120 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

GREEN FROM THE INSIDE OUT 99

Purchasing Green Tags
In the same vein as purchasing green power directly from the utility is the purchase of
green tags. Green tags are a decoupling of the environmental benefit from the actual
power purchase. There are three basic premises behind green tags. First, renewable
power still costs slightly more to generate than traditional fossil fuel derived electric-
ity. Second, it is not possible to purchase green power in all markets. Finally, people
are willing to pay extra for more environmentally benign power. Green tags separate
the electricity purchased from the sale of the environmental benefits.
Green tags are sold as a commodity. Green energy generators such as wind farms
put their electricity directly into the electrical grid. Companies wishing to procure
green energy that are not within the service area of a utility that produces green elec-
tricity can buy the rights to the energy produced by the wind farm in the form of the
green tag. This is done through third party brokers who work with the green power
producers and the end users to transfer the green energy credits.
There are many brokers of green tags throughout the country. A starting point is with
an independent third party such as Green-E, a nonprofit organization that certifies green
tags. They ensure that the green energy is actually produced and that the product is not
being double-sold to multiple end users. Purchasing green tags that have been certified
by Green-E or similar groups helps ensure the green tags are from qualifying sources.
Green tags can then be used to offset any amount of GHG emissions. To achieve carbon
neutrality, Melaver, Inc. purchases green tags for wind energy produced in Kansas. The
carbon that is offset from green electricity production in Kansas is applied to our total
GHG responsibility to offset the amount of carbon our business operations generate.

So Why Not Just Offset Everything?
Unfortunately, green tags are becoming an easy way to pay penance for carbon emission
sins. Many firms choose to simply purchase inexpensive green tags rather than take steps
to actually reduce emissions. While this does help more renewable energy come on line,
it does not reduce an organization’s absolute carbon emissions. A commitment to sus-
tainability requires that a company always first reduce emissions as much as possible,
and then look at ways to offset. This tracks back to authenticity. Buying your way out is
not what customers or partners view as authentic. This holds true at Melaver, Inc. as
well. Many of our staff members voiced concern over the initial purchase of green tags.
However, these purchases have been complemented by programs directly focused on
reducing energy use. What cannot be done through these efforts is then offset through
green tags. Many large organizations purchase green tags to offset electricity use, includ-
ing Whole Foods, Coca-Cola, Duke University, FedEx Kinko’s, Nike, the U.S. Army,
and the World Bank. 21 Whether green tags are right for your organization depends on
the size of your carbon footprint and your reduction alternatives.

One More Thing
It is worthwhile to add a postscript to this lengthy discussion of greenhouse gas emis-
sions. As a result of opening two new offices and adding a number of staff members,
our overall emissions went from 245 tons of eCO to 270 tons—not encouraging con-
2