Buy renewable energy with Arcadia Power
Arcadia Power lets you repurpose your utility bill to fund local solar farms generating clean, renewable energy. You still get the exact same utilities as before, but now you're funding clean energy instead of fossil fuels.
The best part? Depending on where you live, switching to Arcadia might even save you money every month! It only takes 5 minutes to switch.
More about Arcadia
Arcadia
Arcadia provides a simple way to help increase the demand for renewable energy.
You can join Arcadia as a homeowner or renter, as long as you have access to your energy bill. You won't even need to switch electricity providers — you can keep using electricity delivered by your current utility and even pay your bill through Arcadia.
As an Arcadia Power member, you pay a small fee to have your energy consumption matched with clean energy — so for every that for every kWh of energy you use, they'll make sure a kWh of renewables is produced.
Arcadia has a 4.9 rating on TrustPilot and have over 250,000 members across the United States.
Beyond just the environmental benefits, another benefit of signing up for Arcadia Power is access to a much better online dashboard. If you don't want to, you won't need to interface with your own electricity provider anymore — Arcadia provides the same utility, including tips to increase your energy efficiency and automatic scans for better plans from providers in your area that could save you money.
Other great options
Octopus Energy
If you live in Texas, Octopus Energy might be a great option for you. Unlike Arcadia, Octopus Energy provides you with all your energy directly — you'll be switching off your current utility. And for any energy they send you that isn't renewable, they'll make sure that an equivalent amount of renewables is produced. Octopus Energy serves over 2 million customers in the UK and just started operating in Texas a few years ago.
Green-e certified renewable energy credits
If Arcadia and Octopus Energy aren't available in your zipcode, you can find and buy Green-e certified renewable energy credits (more on RECs in the next section) to compensate for your electricity usage yourself. This might cost a bit more than using Arcadia depending on how expensive the RECs that you're purchasing are.
How Renewable Energy Certificates compensate for your fossil fuel usage
When you join a renewable energy supplier, you're still staying on the same energy grid. That means it's not guaranteed you'll get 100% renewable-only energy to your home (*). But for every kWh of energy you use, those suppliers will make sure an equivalent amount of kWh of renewables is produced elsewhere on your behalf by sourcing, purchasing, and retiring Renewable Energy Certificates.
Renewable energy certificates (RECs) are like carbon credits for clean energy. They are a way for people and businesses to subsidize renewable energy generation by choosing to pay extra for their electricity.
When a renewable energy supplier, like a wind or solar farm, produces one megawatt-hour (1MWh) of electricity, a REC is created. That REC can be purchased by anyone who uses 1MWh of electricity, regardless of its source.
So by purchasing & retiring the REC, you're now effectively using renewable energy. You're also increasing the amount of clean power your local utility company has access to, and increasing the long-term demand for renewable energy sources.
(*) That’s very difficult to do, as all sources of energy — whether fossil fuel or clean power — get pushed to the same power grid and are mixed together before getting sent to you via power lines.
Additional reading
Video · Practical Engineering
How Does the Power Grid Work?
Video · Center for Resource Solutions
What Is a Renewable Energy Certificate?
A short video explaining how RECs are created, tracked, traded, sold, and retired.
Guide · Arcadia Blog
The ultimate guide to understanding your power bill