City Claims of "100% Renewable Energy" are 99% Misleading

The executive director of the Energy and Environment Initiative at Rice University says: "Let’s not get carried away. Although activists herald these pledges as major environmental accomplishments, they’re more of a marketing gimmick. Use my home state of Texas as an example. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas oversees 90% of the state’s electricity generation and distribution. 

Texas generates more wind and solar power than any other state. Yet more than 71% of the council’s total electricity still comes from coal and natural gas.The trick is that there’s no method to designate electrons on the grid as originating from one source or another. Power generated by fossil fuels and wind turbines travels together over poles and underground wires before reaching cities, homes and businesses. No customer can use power from wind and solar farms exclusively." WSJ

So how do cities make this 100% renewable claim while still receiving regular electricity from the grid? They pay to generate extra renewable energy that they then sell on the market. If they underwrite enough, they can claim to have offset whatever carbon-generated electricity they use. The proceeds from the sale go back to the city and are put toward its electric bill. 

In essence, these cities are buying a “renewable” label to put on the regular power they’re using. 

When the sun is shinning and the wind is blowing in West Texas, the generating plants under contract to Georgetown generate more electricity than Georgetown can use and so that electricity is used by other Texans connected to the grid. When the sun is not shinning and the wind is not blowing, Georgetown's electricity comes from the coal, nuclear and gas fired plants, just like everyone else in Texas.

So recognize the marketing propaganda when you hear it!