Go Green Save Green

Choosing a greener energy product shouldn't hurt your budget. With Viridian you can help the environment with affordable energy solutions.

Viridian is committed to making a difference through every meter we serve: electricity, natural gas and solar. We don't do it because we have to—we do it because it's the right thing to do. The way we see it, we're not just giving our customers a higher-quality product that often costs less than conventional "brown" energy, we're creating positive change within the energy industry itself.

Most energy suppliers provide only the amount of green energy required (known as the RPS, for Renewable Portfolio Standard) in their electricity products. They're not wrong, but they're not doing the most they can do to be a part of the solution. We're doing something more. To really understand how our green electricity options work, it helps to know a little about the business of green electricity generation.

Renewable energy is bought and sold in the form of Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs (pronounced "recks"). RECs can be produced by sources as varied as massive wind farms owned by corporations or solar arrays on your neighbor's garage. One REC is issued for each megawatt-hour (MWh) of renewable energy produced.

The generator of that MWh actually produces two assets: the electricity that is sold and delivered to the grid and the REC, which is sold to suppliers or utilities to fulfill their RPS or voluntary commitments. Once the REC is sold, it is assigned an individual serial number and should be retired, never used again to fulfill green electricity purchasing commitments.

Viridian’s two electricity products, Everyday Green and Pure Green, are both backed by a high percentage of REC purchases. Everyday Green supplies electricity that is at least 50% renewable; we purchase RECs for 50% of our customer’s usage in addition to fulfilling the state RPS. Pure Green is 100% sourced from wind.

By buying RECs for every customer we serve, Viridian helps renewable energy providers stay in business, builds a market for renewable electricity, supports energy diversity, contributes to environmental sustainability and helps our country move toward energy independence.

We are proud of the role we play in our country’s sustainable future, and one way we show it is through full transparency: We are the only retail energy company that creates a voluntary, annual Sustainability Report that provides our customers with the serial number for each and every REC we purchase.

Because natural gas is abundant, reliable and is a cleaner-burning resource than coal, it plays an important role in our nation’s transition to a more sustainable future. In the energy sector it’s known as a “bridge” solution, with both benefits and challenges: Although its extraction and combustion create greenhouse gas emissions, those emissions contain not quite half the carbon dioxide than the combustion of coal, and approximately a third of the carbon dioxide of oil. Still, we believe you can and should have an even cleaner gas option for your home or business.

Viridian’s Simply Right natural gas products provide a thoughtful and practical way to address the biggest concerns related to natural gas. We mitigate our customers’ emissions through carbon offset purchases: Our customers may choose from Simply Right natural gas, which is 25% offset, or Simply Right 100, which is 100% offset.

Much like RECs, carbon offsets provide financial incentives for businesses, municipalities and individuals to invest in projects that absorb greenhouse gases or prevent them from entering the atmosphere. One carbon offset certifies the reduction of one metric ton of carbon dioxide. By including high-quality carbon offsets in our natural gas product, we reduce our customers’ environmental impact in a significant and measurable way.

In addition, we have created the Simply Right Natural Gas Fund, which is working to improve industry practices and standards. It’s a combined effort with select organizations that support research and innovation toward cleaner and safer natural gas extraction, and a focus on increased transparency and accountability in the natural gas sector. Viridian contributes to the fund on behalf of both Simply Right and Simply Right 100 customers—all you have to do is use our responsible natural gas. As our customer base grows, so will our fund and its influence.

You’re seeing them more and more across America: solar panels on rooftops and in fields capturing renewable energy at its cleanest and most abundant. It’s clearly an idea whose time has come, and Viridian is fully on board. What’s the difference between “our” solar power and solar power you’d get from another supplier? It’s all in the details. Thanks to our partnership with SolarCity, the No. 1 full-service solar provider in the nation, going solar not only makes a big difference for the environment, it can also make a big difference in your energy bill and your life. SolarCity takes care of everything from permitting to panels: All you have to do is soak up the sun and enjoy your risk-free energy source and locked-in lower rates. Find out more about the benefits of going solar with Viridian and SolarCity here.

When you choose Viridian, you play an important role in sustaining an industry that has sustainability at its heart. But it's often hard to really see the difference your choice makes, one kilowatt and therm at a time. To bring that to life, we regularly measure the collective carbon emissions that our customers have avoided by going green. The sheer weight and numbers are astonishing: Take a look at our homepage for a real-time counter of the impact our electric customers are making. When you sign up with Viridian, your Independent Associate can show you the equivalency chart we've created to bring these numbers to life in our annual Sustainability Report. It's both humbling and empowering to realize how much the "little things" really do add up.