Here’s how to buy renewable energy from your electricity company

As CO2 emissions from fossil fuels continue to warm the planet, environmentally conscious consumers may wonder if there is a way to purchase electricity from renewable sources without installing technology like solar panels or wind turbines on their property.

In short, the answer is yes.

However, this option is not necessarily available to all homeowners and renters. It also often comes with a slight price premium, experts say.

Renewable energy sources – including wind energy, solar energy, hydropower, geothermal energy and biomass – charged According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this will account for approximately 21% of U.S. electricity generation by 2023.

Most, or 60%, of energy sources came from fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas and oil. These energy sources release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

The White House focuses on electricity generation to be free of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

A growing number of individuals and organizations are choosing to transition away from fossil fuels: approximately 9.6 million customers Bought 273 Terawatt hours of renewable energy through voluntary green power markets by 2022, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. That is a fivefold increase compared to the 54 TWh in 2012.

In the voluntary market, customers purchase renewable energy in quantities greater than state minimum requirements from utilities. More than half of all US states have policies to achieve this increase the share of electricity from renewable energy sources, although most targets are still years away.

Voluntary purchases good for 28% of the renewable energy market, excluding hydropower, as of 2016, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. They help increase overall demand for renewable electricity, driving change in the energy mix, the EPA said.

According to NREL estimates, businesses will account for most of the increase. Home sales have also grown, but more slowly.

Only one in six American adults know they have the option to do so buy renewable energyeither from their electric company or from another provider, according to the most recent NREL survey data on the subject, published in 2011.

“The market continues to grow every year in terms of revenue and customers,” said Jenny Sumner, group manager of modeling and analytics at NREL.

“Very few people know” they can sign up for green programs, she said. “It’s just not something that most people think about.”

Energy companies may offer so-called green pricing programs.

Customers in these programs, also known as According to the U.S. Department of Energy, energy companies pay their utilities a “small premium” to get electricity from renewable sources.

The costs generally exceed that of a utility’s standard electric service by about 1 to 2 cents per kilowatt hour, Sumner said.

That can roughly translate to about $5 to $15 more per month, Sumner said. It will ultimately depend on factors such as program price and household energy consumption, she added.

Nearly half of Americans, 47%, said they did willing to pay more to get their electricity from 100% renewable sources, according to a 2019 survey by Yale University’s Program on Climate Change Communication. On average, they said they would be willing to pay $33.72 more per month.

Green energy marketing programs

Consumers in some states can also sign up for green energy marketing programs.

Such states have “competitive” energy markets, meaning consumers can choose from many different companies to generate their energy. But unlike green pricing programs, the company generating the renewable energy may not be the customer’s utility, which distributes the power.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy and the EPA, there are green energy options for homes are available inside these states with competitive or deregulated markets: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.

These also tend to come at a premium, although in some regions they “can be price competitive with standard electricity options,” the agencies wrote.

Aggregation of community choices

“Community choice aggregation” programs allow local governments buy power on behalf of their residents with an alternative green energy supplier.

The municipality essentially acts as a supplier for the community’s electricity, Sumner said. These programs are especially prevalent in California, she said.

Unlike the other program types, residents are generally not required to apply for community choice programs; it typically happens automatically and consumers can opt out if they wish, Sumner said.

The fact that a consumer chooses renewable energy does not mean that the electricity pumped into their home comes from those renewable sources.

This may sound strange, but it has to do with the physical nature of electricity and its movement through the shared electrical grid.

“Once the electrons are injected into the grid, there is no way to tell that these are ‘green’ electrons and that these are not green,” said Joydeep Mitra, head of the energy systems program at Michigan State University. “No one knows which electrons go where.”

Green energy programs instead rely on “renewable energy certificates,” or RECs.

The certificates are essentially an accounting mechanism for the generation and purchase of renewable energy, Mitra said.

You may not get the green energy, but someone somewhere will. And RECs keep track of it all.

Any consumer, even one who does not have access to a green energy program through their utility, can also purchase a REC as a separate, standalone product. It’s a way to provide additional financing for a renewable energy project, which is typically sold by a broker or marketer rather than a utility, Sumner said.

Purchasing these certificates separately will not impact a consumer’s existing utility service relationship.

Experts recommend choosing a green energy option or REC that has been verified by an independent third party.

This is due to the voluntary sale and purchase of sustainable energy are not subject to government oversight, according to the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy.

One such independent body is the Center for Resource Solutions, a nonprofit organization that oversees the Green-e certification standard, the agencies said.

For example, Green-e monitors energy suppliers’ disclosures to consumers about renewable energy and, among other things, verifies that purchases of that energy are not counted toward state energy mandates.

In this new series, CNBC explores what climate change is means for your moneyfrom retirement savings to insurance costs and career prospects.

Has climate change left you with bigger or new bills? Tell us about your experience by emailing me at gregory.iacurci@nbcuni.com.