Volts Podcast Featuring Killian Daly: The Escalating Battle Over Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
This episode features a timely conversation with two key members of the Technical Working Group updating the GHGP’s Scope 2 carbon accounting rules: Wilson Ricks, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Princeton, and Killian Daly, the Executive Director of EnergyTag.
Ricks and Daly advocate for a massive, necessary shift toward greater granularity in clean energy procurement. The proposed changes would require companies to match their energy consumption with clean power that is:
- Hourly matched. Procured at the hour of the day the energy is actually consumed (ending the ability to be “solar powered at night”).
- Geographically local. Procured from the same electric grid or region where the consumption occurs.
Why This Matters:
The speakers argue that these changes will make corporate clean energy claims more transparent, honest, and impactful. Instead of supporting cheap, old, or distant power, the new rules would:
- Incentivize necessary clean firm power (like storage and geothermal) that can generate power when wind/solar cannot.
- Force companies to address emissions on their local grids, where their consumption is physically located.
- Reset the standard to recognize that achieving 100% clean physical supply is difficult, distinguishing between companies that are truly driving decarbonization versus those simply “papering over” emissions.
