TerraPass project tour: Clean energy

When you buy a carbon offset from TerraPass, part of your money goes to support wind farms. When a wind farm generates power, it displaces electricity generated by conventional sources such as coal and natural gas. Those conventional sources produce carbon dioxide emissions because they burn fossil fuels to spin their turbines, whereas wind farms don't use fossil fuels at all. They're virtually carbon-free!

Building and operating a wind farm takes a lot more than a strong breeze. Wind power is more expensive to produce than power from coal and natural gas. This is because electricity is only produced when the wind is blowing, and because the number of kilowatts produced varies depending on wind speed and direction. And of course, the wind turbines, electric transmission lines, right-of-way rights and operational maintenance all cost money.

But because it's clean and doesn't require fossil fuels, many forces have come together to produce a healthy wind industry in the United States. These forces include federal tax incentives, state laws requiring renewable power sources, and a unique revenue stream for clean power generators called "Renewable Energy Certificates." This revenue stream comes from people like TerraPass customers who value the environmental benefits of clean power. Taken together, these forces help make wind farms a more attractive investment for power companies, utilities, and wind entrepreneurs. Attractive investments mean more wind farms, and we support that. Power to the people!

When TerraPass supports a wind farm, we calculate how much carbon dioxide we're reducing by examining the "carbon profile" of the electricity grid where the energy is produced. This carbon profile is calculated periodically by the US Environmental Protection Agency by examining the carbon dioxide emissions of all commercial energy sources within each regional grid. So, if generating a megawatt-hour of electricity results in emissions of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide within a particular grid, then 100 MWh of clean energy generated within that grid saves 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

See our full project listing and audit information.

Featured wind projects

Blue Canyon Wind Farm, Andarko, OK

One of the largest sources of wind power purchases for TerraPass is Blue Canyon Wind Farm in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Rising high above their rocky limestone perches, 45 wind turbines turn gracefully against the Southwest Oklahoma sky. It's technology at its latest capturing a natural resource to be used for energy by Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC), the power supplier for 19 of Oklahoma's rural electric cooperatives.

Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility, Ainsworth, NE

Ainsworth wind farm sits on ranchland atop rolling hills in the Sandhills of North Central Nebraska, expanding the existing installed wind capacity in Nebraska by 400%. The $81.4 million project will generate enough electricity to serve 19,000 homes, benefiting customers of NPPD, the Omaha Public Power District, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska, Grand Island Utilities and JEA of Jacksonville, FL.

Garwin McNeilus Wind Farm, Dodge Center, MN

Garwin McNeilus Wind Farms is located in lightly populated farmland in Dodge County, Minnesota, home to some of the highest yielding agricultural land in Southern Minnesota (corn, soybeans, oats, hay). The project consists of 11 2-turbine wind farms, developed between May 2003 and May 2004. The turbines supply the MAPP electricity power pool, which is primarily powered by coal and other forms of non-renewable resources.

Mountain View, Cabazon, and Whitewater Hill Wind Farms- San Gorgonio Pass, CA

San Gorgonio Pass, familiar to everyone who makes their way from Los Angeles to the low and high deserts surrounding Palm Springs, is one of the windiest places in California and home to a longstanding California wind resource area. Though turbines have been generating power here since the at least the 1970s, in the past few years hundreds of new turbines have been installed. The Mountain View project alone included over 100 new turbines. Newer turbines mean more electricity, because turbine power efficiency has improved over the years. TerraPass customers have supported three San Gorgonio wind projects so far.

High Winds Projects, Solano County, CA

The High Winds project consists of 90 Vestas V80 1.8 MW turbines on sheep grazing lands and barley fields, in the Montezuma Hills of California. The wind farm produces 950,810 MWh of energy annually, enough to serve 75,000 homes.

Other clean energy projects

Though Terrapass' current portfolio focuses on wind energy, in the past we've also supported clean energy production from landfill gas.

Bavarian Landfill Power, Boone County, KY

Many landfills have "passive" landfill gas collection systems, essentially wells with pipes positioned around the site, often with a flare at the surface to destroy the gas. These passive systems prevent that methane from escaping to the atmosphere, which is a tremendous benefit which TerraPass supports. Even better, though, are landfills with an added investment in "active" gas collection systems. Active systems pump the methane out, thus reducing the volume of gas which escapes to the air. And best of all are the landfill gas energy producers, landfills where the active gas collection systems are connected to large generators to create electricity. The Bavarian Landfill in Boone County, KY invested about $4 million to convert its passive gas collection system to an active system with electricity generation. When it's running at capacity, the landfill produces enough electricity to power about 2000 homes. TerraPass supported this project by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates, providing a supplemental source of revenue in addition to the electricity itself. It's our way of telling the world we like landfill gas, lots of it, when it's put to such good use.

Catawba County Landfill Power, Catawba County, NC

In Catawba County, North Carolina, not only are they generating power from their landfill gas, they've established an EcoComplex adjacent to the landfill to promote multiple beneficial uses of the County's "waste" resources. The Alliance for Innovation recently awarded Catawba County the 2007 Thomas H. Muehlenbeck Award for Excellence in Local Government for their creative, forward-looking vision embodied by the EcoComplex. More information on the Catawba County Landfill can be found here.