GREENING SYNAGOGUES RESOURCES

Green Power - Renewable Energy

No matter how much electricity (and money on energy bills) you manage to save, your synagogue will still consume a fair bit of energy - which, again, is a major ethical and religious issue (see Why Energy Is a Jewish Issue). How can we minimize the impact of the electricity we do consume? The best way is to purchase clean, renewable energy, which is an option in increasing numbers of communities. Usually doing so costs between a half-cent and two cents per-kilowatt-hour more than “regular,” dirty, coal-and-nuclear-generated electricity. You might consider doing this as an act of faith, irrespective of costs. Or you might pour the money you save on energy efficiency measures into buying a percentage of renewable energy to minimize, but not eliminate, your community’s dependence on fossil fuels.

A related option, available anywhere, is to purchase so-called “green tags.” These are essentially investments in the production of windmills and other renewable energy sources where it is most feasible, so that more renewable electricity is produced somewhere as an ‘offset’ to the regular stuff you might consume. Electrons in the electricity grid are like dollar bills in circulation - they all have the same value, and it doesn’t matter exactly which one you use at a given moment, though how you made them is a serious ethical issue. Green tags allow your community to achieve the equivalent of zero-emissions (or partial-emissions), even if your local utilities offer no green electricity options.

The specifics behind renewable energy and green tags are incredibly complex, and vary not only by state and region but also from week to week as laws, markets, and suppliers change. One useful resource is Green-e, a non profit organization that certifies renewable electricity products that meet the environmental and consumer protection standards established by the Green-e Program. Local “Interfaith Power & Light” initiatives now exist in a dozen states and regions, including California, Massachusetts, and greater Washington DC; these can be a tremendous resource. The many individual states with COEJL and NCC-sponsored Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaigns, along with independent groups like New Jersey’s GreenFaith, can also provide helpful ideas in this area.

As useful background, we offer below a document written in Spring, 2004 by the Executive Director of the Energy Future Coalition, summarizing what his Washington, DC church did. It nicely lays out the issues and options applicable in that time and place, and while the specific suppliers and costs will be different for you, the issues and choices will be similar. Later in the document are materials adapted from the Union of Concerned Scientists’ website regarding renewable energy.

We hope this is helpful. And please, if your synagogue or community does choose renewable energy or green tags, let us know!

CASE STUDY: St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C.       (Spring, 2004)
CHOOSING ENERGY AS AN ACT OF FAITH
by Reid Detchon

Somewhere in Virginia, a landfill rots. As its organic matter slowly decomposes, it releases methane gas. Because of St. Columba’s and other “green energy” buyers, some of that methane is captured and used to make electricity, instead of going into the atmosphere and adding to global warming. Because St. Columba’s wants that electricity, a little less coal is burned in a power plant, where its emissions would contribute to acid rain, smog and global warming.

Last fall, the vestry accepted the recommendation of the St. Columba’s Environment Committee and approved the purchase of a year’s worth of renewable energy. The church still gets its power from Pepco, but for an additional 5 percent cost (about $2,000), the parish is no longer adding to the air pollution and health problems caused by fossil fuels.

Where does Pepco get the electricity it sells? According to the company, half of its power is generated from coal, a third from nuclear energy, and a tenth from natural gas.

Coal and gas give off sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide when they are burned — two gases that contribute to urban smog and acid rain. Acid rain kills trees and lakes. Urban smog not only causes hazy skies, it is also dangerous for people with emphysema and other breathing problems.

How do we know we’re getting what we’re paying for? Electricity is like water — once the electrons are all mixed together, you can’t tell where they each came from — but our renewable energy supplier, Sterling Planet, is audited annually as a participant in the “Green-e” certification program run by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions.

Why not wind power? New wind farms are being built in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and helping to supply some of our region’s needs. But the extra cost is about four times as much — two cents per kilowatt-hour, instead of half a cent for landfill gas. Some people choose to buy a share of their electricity from wind, but we wanted to convert the church 100 percent.

Why is landfill gas considered renewable energy? Landfill gas comes from decaying organic matter, and all organic matter is just solar energy stored in plants or animals. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere in order to grow. When they decay, they give it back. This continuous loop is the natural carbon cycle.

Coal and gas are fossil fuels — decayed organic matter that has been stored underground for millions of years. By digging up this ancient carbon and putting it in the air, we are upsetting the earth’s natural carbon cycle and thickening the atmospheric blanket that traps the sun’s reflected heat. As a result, the world is warming, and the climate is changing, with unpredictable consequences.

The electricity that St. Columba’s was buying from Pepco added more than 250 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. Is St. Columba’s a big user? Yes — but the large and busy Detchon household is responsible for 15 tons a year. At our house we don’t want to change our lifestyle, but we do want to reduce our impact. Paying an extra 5 percent on every bill doesn’t seem like too high a price to pay.

The United States is the largest contributor to global manmade greenhouse gas emissions — producing about 25 percent of the world’s emissions, with just 4 percent of the world’s population. Nor is global warming a victimless crime. It is implicated in the increasing frequency of el Niño, which has had a devastating impact on farmers, especially in poorer countries like Honduras, and is rapidly destabilizing the Arctic and putting its flora and fauna — and the lives of native people — at risk.

Globally we have embarked on a vast uncontrolled experiment with a climate system we do not fully understand, and the risks are large. We must act to protect God’s creation, not destroy it. As the Psalms say, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.” But our even greater duty is to our fellow man and to generations to come, for surely the second of the great commandment is to ”love your neighbor as yourself”.

Choosing renewable energy required answers to several questions. Pricing estimates we received from Sterling Planet are shown for illustration.

1.   Stay with Pepco or change suppliers?
    a.   It was clearly cheaper to stay with Pepco and buy renewable energy certificates (“green tags”).

2.   Regional or national supplier?
    a.   We wanted to improve air quality in our area, so we chose a regional supplier.

3.   Wind or other renewables?
    a.   There are many suppliers of wind, but we were concerned about the cost. Energy from landfill gas provides the same benefits but is much cheaper.

4.   New or existing facilities?
    a.   While we would like to encourage new facilities, we thought it equally important to consume clean energy that is already being produced.

As a result, we chose “green tags” from an existing landfill gas facility in our region. The final price was $4.71/REC – in other words, less than half a cent per kilowatt-hour. St. Columba’s consumes about 435,000 kwh – 435 RECs – in a year. Our additional cost was $2,048.85, about a 5% increase in our annual electricity bill. An additional 28 parish families signed on for the same deal and ended up buying almost the exact same amount – 433 RECs. Between the two purchases, that meant a reduction of 625 tons of carbon dioxide – as much as is emitted by 11 SUVs going 100,000 miles apiece.

What Is Green Power?
Green power is the pathway to a cleaner, sustainable energy system. Renewable energy—power from the sun, wind, plants, and moving water—is a sustainable way to meet our energy needs and protect the environment and public health.

• Wind energy converts the force of the wind into electricity. Wind power does not produce emissions, generate solid waste, or use water.
• Bioenergy is energy from trees and plants, or "biomass." This includes crops grown specifically for energy production as well as organic wastes (such as wood residues from paper mills and methane gas from landfills). Using bioenergy reduces global warming emissions if plants are grown to replace those that are harvested.
• Geothermal energy uses heat from deep within the earth to make clean power.
• Solar power captures the heat and light of the sun to generate electricity. Solar energy does not produce emissions, generate solid waste, or use water.
• Hydroelectric power captures the energy in falling water. It does not produce emissions or solid waste. Depending on the site, it can have negative impacts on water flow and water quality, fish impacts, and other land use issues.

Why Buy Green Power?
Choosing green power can make a big difference for the environment because electricity generation is the largest industrial polluter in the country. Electricity generation currently produces:

• About two-thirds of the annual U.S. emissions of sulfur dioxide, the main cause of acid rain and very small soot particles. These fine particles are believed to be responsible for the largest share of the 50,000-100,000 deaths caused by air pollution in the United States each year.
• About 30 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, which stress forest ecosystems and combine with organic compounds in sunlight to form smog. High smog levels can also trigger heart and respiratory problems and contribute to air pollution deaths.
• About 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. This heat-trapping gas causes global warming, which may lead to increased droughts, flooding, disease, ecosystem disruption, and severe weather.
• Toxic-metal emissions (such as mercury and lead) and nuclear waste.

Coal. Most electricity in the United States currently comes from coal. But coal burning is the leading cause of acid rain, the largest source of global warming emissions, and a significant source of smog, toxic metals, and tiny-particle pollution. Reducing coal usage is critical to slowing global warming and protecting the environment.

Oil. Oil produces high levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and relatively high levels of carbon dioxide, as well as problems associated with drilling, refining, and transportation, such as tanker spills. However, relatively little oil is used to make electricity.

Natural gas. Natural gas accounts for about 17 percent of the U.S. electricity mix. Our growing reliance on natural gas, combined with limited supplies, makes this fuel subject to price spikes, which can have a significant impact on consumer energy costs. In addition, though natural gas is much cleaner than coal or oil, it does produce global warming emissions when burned.

Nuclear power. After coal, the next largest source of our electricity is nuclear power. Nuclear plants don't cause air pollution, but they do create radioactive waste, which must be stored for thousands of years.

Fuel Mix in the DC/Maryland Region
Electricity in the region is supplied from a common power pool. On average the power comes from the following sources:

Air emissions, in pounds emitted per megawatt-hour of electricity generated:

Acid rain and ozone smog:
Sulfur dioxide       10.0
Nitrogen oxides     3.3

Global warming:
Carbon dioxide     1301.3

What are the Green Power Options?

Green Pricing
Green Pricing is an optional utility service for customers who want to help expand the production and distribution of renewable energy technologies. With green pricing, you do not have to change your electricity provider. Instead, customers choose to pay a premium on their electricity bill to cover the extra cost of purchasing clean, sustainable energy. As of March 2003, more than 300 electricity providers in 32 states have either implemented green pricing options or announced plans to do so.

• No green pricing options are currently available from Pepco.

  Green Marketing
  Green marketing is the sale of green power in competitive markets, where consumers have the option to choose from a variety of suppliers and service offerings, much like they can choose between long-distance telephone carriers. The key difference between green marketing and green pricing is that with green marketing, you are actually switching electricity providers.

  Only Pepco Energy Services currently has green marketing offers for DC and Maryland, and only for residential customers. A list of its current offers follows.

  Washington Gas Energy Services has had such offers in the past but does not now; it says new offers "will soon be available."

  			Price	Addl. Cost	Diff.	What’s In It
  DC	PEPCO Energy Services	Standard Electricity	7.7¢/kWh
  DC	PEPCO Energy Services	10% Green Electricity	7.78¢/kWh	0.08¢/kWh	1%	9% biomass and 1% hydro
  DC	PEPCO Energy Services	51% Green Electricity	8.09¢/kWh	0.39¢/kWh	5%	50% biomass and less than 2% hydro
  DC	PEPCO Energy Services	100% Green Electricity	8.45¢/kWh	0.75¢/kWh	10%	97% biomass and less than 3% hydro
  DC	PEPCO Energy Services	51% NewWind Electricity	8.46¢/kWh	0.76¢/kWh	10%	51% wind
  DC	PEPCO Energy Services	100% NewWind Electricity	9.34¢/kWh	1.64¢/kWh	21%	100% wind
  MD	PEPCO Energy Services	Standard Electricity	7.7¢/kWh
  MD	PEPCO Energy Services	10% Green Electricity	7.78¢/kWh	0.08¢/kWh	1%	9% biomass and 1% hydro
  MD	PEPCO Energy Services	51% Green Electricity	8.09¢/kWh	0.39¢/kWh	5%	50% biomass and less than 2% hydro
  MD	PEPCO Energy Services	100% Green Electricity	8.45¢/kWh	0.75¢/kWh	10%	97% biomass and less than 3% hydro
  MD	PEPCO Energy Services	51% NewWind Electricity	9.10¢/kWh	1.4¢/kWh	18%	51% wind
  MD	PEPCO Energy Services	100% NewWind Electricity	9.98¢/kWh	2.28¢/kWh	30%	100% wind

  Green Tags
  Consumers throughout the U.S. have a third green power option: renewable energy certificates, also known as “green tags.” These represent the environmental benefits of renewable electricity generation (usually one kilowatt-hour = one credit). Green tags can be purchased in almost any quantity and are usually available from someone other than your electricity provider. What you pay for is the benefit of adding clean, renewable energy generation to the regional or national electricity grid. The overall environmental benefit of purchasing green tags is exactly the same as purchasing a green pricing or green marketing product.

  If you buy green tags, your relationship with your current utility remains unchanged. Your purchase of green tags allows the regional power pool to acquire the amount of renewable energy you purchased. As a result, the power pool will not acquire that same amount of electricity from other, dirtier sources. So your purchase will mean cleaner air in your region.

  A list of national green tag marketers, drawn from the Internet, follows:

  Active Retail Marketers		Cost
  3 Phases Energy Services	Institutions only	2.0¢/kWh
  Bonneville Environmental Foundation	Wind	2.0¢/kWh
  Community Energy Inc.	NewWind	2.5¢/kWh
  EAD Environmental	Wind	1.5¢/kWh
  	Hydro	1.2¢/kWh
  Maine Interfaith Power & Light	Wind	2.0¢/kWh
  Mainstay Energy	Wind	2.0¢/kWh
  NativeEnergy	Wind farm investment	0.7¢/kWh
  PG&E National Energy Group	Wind	4.0¢/kWh
  Renewable Choice Energy	Wind	4.0¢/kWh
  Sterling Planet, Inc.	GreenAmerica	0.9¢/kWh
  Sun Power Electric Corporation	Landfill gas	3.6¢/kWh
  Waverly Light and Power	Wind	2.0¢/kWh
  WindCurrent	Wind	2.5¢/kWh

  How Can You Tell If You're Buying Green Power?

  When power flows from the generator to your house, electrons get mixed together on the wires. You can't specify which electrons you get, but you can make sure that your money goes to support clean, sustainable generators, which has the effect of making the whole system "greener." To do this, you will need to look closely at utility marketing claims and materials. To ensure that the claims are truthful, many states now require disclosure labels, just like the nutrition labels on food packages. But don't hesitate to ask for more information directly from potential suppliers, including the percentage of power derived from each fuel source and the level of each of the above emissions compared with the regional average. You may also want to consider whether a company's renewable offering will lead to new projects, so that you know if your money is adding to renewable energy use in your region.

  Green-e is a voluntary certification program for renewable electricity products. The Green-e program establishes consumer protection and environmental standards for electricity products, and verifies that these products meet the standards. The Green-e logo certifies that at least half the power supplied is from renewable sources. Questions about particular providers can be directed to the Center for Resources Solutions, which administers the Green-e program, at 1-888-63-GREEN (1-888-634-7336).

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  (This guide was adapted from the Union of Concerned Scientists web site.)