About Me

Rockville, MD, United States
Clean Currents is a clean energy broker/aggregator licensed by the Maryland Public Service Commission, the Pennsylvania Utility Commission, and the District of Columbia Public Service Commission. We operate in Maryland, Pennsylvania, DC, Chicago, Texas, and other areas where there is a competitive electricity market. We are committed to promoting solutions to today’s biggest environmental challenges – global warming and air pollution.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Green Power Choice Grows Despite the Recession, in the Right Markets

Just back from the national Renewable Energy Marketing conference, held this year in Atlanta. The green industry is alive and well, and actually growing even in these tough economic times.

According to the Center for Resource Solutions, the folks who run Green-E Energy, Green-E energy sales increased a whopping 45% in 2008. They say more than 13 million megawatt-hours of certified renewable energy was purchased by 500,000 residential and 20,000 commercial consumers. That's great growth!

I've seen this kind of growth here in the DC area. Thousands of homeowners are making the choice to switch to clean energy along with hundreds of businesses. There's a real green movement in this area.

One interesting point - though 2009 is not done, there is some data to show green power sales trends this year, and it's not as good as 2008, in certain markets.

The markets where green power purchasing is down are markets that are fully "regulated," ie. markets where the only "choice" consumers have is the choice of their monopoly utility. In more open markets, such as Maryland and DC, where consumers have a real choice to buy power through competitive energy suppliers or innovative green startups, the green power market continues to rise.

This makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Utilities, by nature, are about as innovative as a slice of bread. Many, if not all, are large, quasi-government run behemoths that don't know how to market, or how to take risks, or how to think in the new economy. The green power programs they run are considered a huge success if they sign up 4% of their market. There is practically never a chance for a consumer to save money and go green at the same time. Utilities such as BGE, Pepco and others may not have bad intentions, but they simply are not green companies. Asking utilities to offer innovative new green products is like asking the U.S. Postal Service to turn a profit. They just don't think that way.

On the other hand, companies like Clean Currents can innovate, market in new ways, and offer savings to consumers who want to go green.


It's no wonder that open markets work better for promoting green power than do monopoly utility markets.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Brief Musings on the Loss of the Green Jobs Czar

The White House has lost Van Jones, the Green Jobs Czar, sacrificed at the alter of the 24 hour news beast. I'm not going to wade into the controversy about Jones. You can find out more about that at other sources. I am extremely disapointed that we are losing a person who knows more about green job creation and community development than 99% of the rest of the country. On this subject, there are few, if any stronger than Van Jones. The question is - what will the Obama Adminstration do now?

Obviously, health care seems to be the top priority right now. But climate change is not going away, and there is a huge green energy/green jobs/climate bill still working its way through the Senate. The White House needs a point person on this issue. There must be somebody to focus the power of the White House bully pulpit on passing the bill. There needs to be somebody with Van Jone's weight in the progressive community to rally the grassroots. I don't know who the right person is, but I know that we need somebody and we need them now. President Obama should work with all due haste to fill these enormous shoes. The damage of delay will be immense. It will not only be a huge blow for a greener economy, but will also hurt Obama politically. He needs to show strength by appointing another fire-breating, take-no-prisoners, unapologetic green jobs warrior to take the batton from Mr. Jones. The climate cannot wait.