A growing chorus of companies mostly unknown to the wider public is seeking to convince people you don’t need solar panels on your roof to go green.
The intrigue: Instead of writing about this from afar, I’m experiencing it firsthand and sharing my experience. I have signed up with Arcadia Power, a DC-based startup founded in 2014 that’s leading this sector with a digital focus.
Yes, but: I don’t suddenly have wind and solar directly powering my home now. Arcadia is trying to simplify a more complicated dynamic that’s at play due to how our electricity systems work.
The big picture: Out of America’s 127 million households, about 3.7%, or roughly 4.7 million, buy green electricity through different programs. That figure has grown nearly 250% since 2010.
Driving the news: Those numbers are extrapolated from new data out of the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL estimated that in 2018, there were 6.3 million green electricity customers, and around 75% are typically homes.
