How did we get involved in green energy management & electricity brokerage?
After our Founder helped Green Mountain Energy revitalize its Multifamily Apartment Community Channel in Houston in 2006, Momentum Bay® began brokering Texas green power in 2007 as GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS in order to protect our consulting firm's clients pursuing green building & corporate sustainability.
- Electricity procurement is buildings' largest operating expense, & often leaders' greatest discomforts (second only to dental visits & car shopping).
- Since 2007, electricity, natural gas & green power prices have been out of control, swinging 10% in a day, 30%+ in a week, even reaching all-time highs & 10-year lows. Attentive professional advisors can add substantially to clients' profits.
- Our clients had been consistently receiving less than transparent & fair pricing from other electricity brokers (no professional certification, credentialing or licensure required in Texas) & Retail Electric Providers, the vast majority of which were unfamiliar with green power & not yet pursuing corporate sustainability.
- Some municipal-owned utilities in Central Texas & some Retail Electric Providers (REPs) still charge $8 to $38 for a Renewable Energy Credit or green electricity (i.e., $0.008 to $0.038 per kilowatt-hour) even though the market price is at or below $1 / REC or $0.001 / kWh. (We have enjoyed helping clients secure fair prices & value, not paying 8 to 38 times more than they should in pursuit of corporate sustainability, high-performance green building & carbon neutrality.)
- Although energy represents only 0.7% of a building's 30-year life cycle costs (human costs are 83-92% of 30-year costs), energy accounts for 60-90% of a conventional building's & business' potentially regulated carbon emissions.
- By 2013-2016, commercial & industrial electricity customers with behind-the-meter onsite renewable energy (solar photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, biomass biolers & biofuel generators, etc.) may effectively put conventional electricity brokers out of business. With grid parity a reality by then, companies will be making their own electricity - by installing solar panel systems, generating electricity at peak daytime prices, & interconnecting to the electricity grid (i.e, net metering so that they essentially eliminate electricity bills). At an all-in cost of $0.11 / kWh (i.e., energy + transmission & distribution charges + taxes), solar's payback can be less than 10 years ... and provide 20+ more years of electricity essentially for free.
What is your five to 30-year energy strategy?