A green certificate are a tradable commodity proving that certain electricity is generated using renewable energy sources. Typically one certificate represents the generation of one Megawatthour of electricity. What is defined as "renewable" varies from certificate trading scheme to trading scheme. Usually, at least the following sources are considered as renewable: *

Wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

(often further divided into onshore and offshore) * Solar (often further divided into photovoltaic and thermal) * Wave (often further divided into onshore and offshore) and

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

(often further divided into onshore and offshore) * Geothermal * Hydro (often further divided into small – microhydro – and large) *

Biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...

(mainly

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...

s, often further divided by actual fuel used). Green certificates represent the environmental value of renewable energy generated. The certificates can be traded separately from the energy produced. Several countries use green certificates as a means to make the support of green electricity generation closer to a market economy instead of more bureaucratic investment support and feed-in tariffs. Such national trading schemes are in use in e.g. Poland, Sweden, the UK, Italy, Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), and some US states. Once in the grid, renewable energy is impossible to separate from the conventionally generated energy. This makes purchasing of a green certificate equal to purchasing a claim, that the certificate owner consumed energy from the renewable portion of the whole energy in the grid. Therefore certificate purchase does not affect how much renewable energy was actually generated – only how it was distributed. In contrast to CO₂e-Reduction certificates, e.g. AAU's or CER's under the

UNFCC The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat "dangerous human interference with the climate system", in part by stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in th ...

, which can be exchanged worldwide, Green Certificates cannot be exchanged/traded between e.g. Belgium and Italy, let alone the USA and the EU member States.

External links

The Green Certificate Company – green business certification site

Green Business Bureau – green business certification site
(

EERE The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is an office within the United States Department of Energy. Formed from other energy agencies after the 1973 energy crisis, EERE is led by the Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency an ...

).
Green Business League – green business certification site

Green Power Network's RECs page
(

).
Green Standard Certificate Scheme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Certificate Environmental economics Renewable energy certification Government documents nl:Garanties van oorsprong

See also

External links