GC: n
CT: What Are Green Certificates (RECs)? The electricity from all power plants, such as coal, nuclear, natural-gas fired, wind, or solar, and whether in a regulated or competitive market, is mixed together in the transmission and distribution lines that deliver electricity to homes and businesses. Meters measure how much electricity enters the grid from each power plant, as well as how much is used by each end-use customer.
The renewable electricity can be broken into two major parts:
- The “energy”, or actual electrical megawatt-hours (MWh) or kilowatt-hours (kWh) delivered into the electrical grid and are common to any power plant, whether powered by a renewable fuel or not.
- The renewable “attributes”, or “green certificates“, or “RECs”, representing the positive environmental attributes associated with the MWh or kWh of renewable power delivered to the grid.
S: http://www.cleanpowermarkets.com/green_certificates.php (last access: 25 February 2015)
N: 1. green (adj): Old English grene “green, young, immature, raw,” earlier groeni, from Proto-Germanic gronja- (cognates: Old Saxon grani, Old Frisian grene, Old Norse grænn, Danish grøn, Dutch groen, Old High German gruoni, German grün), from PIE root ghre- “grow” (see grass), through sense of “color of living plants.”
certificate (n): early 15c., “action of certifying,” from French certificat, from Medieval Latin certificatum “thing certified,” noun use of neuter past participle of certificare (see certify). Of documents, from mid-15c., especially a document which attests to someone’s authorization to practice or do something (1540s).
2. Renewable energy certificates (RECs) are known by a number of other names or acronyms, including:
- Tradable Renewable Certificates (TRCs)
- Renewable Energy Credits
- Renewable Resource Credits (RRCs)
- Tradable Renewable Energy Credits / Certificates (T-RECs)
- Green Certificates (GCs)
- Green Tickets
- Green Tags.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=green+certificate&searchmode=none (last access: 25 February 2015). 2. http://www.cleanpowermarkets.com/green_certificates.php (last access: 25 February 2015).
SYN: renewable energy certificate
S: TERMIUMPLUS
CR: ecology, electrical energy, environment.
