Certificates and the 24/7 Carbon-Free-Energy Frontier
Renewable energy certificates are the plumbing beneath every clean-power claim, and twenty-four-seven carbon-free-energy matching is the frontier attempt to fix the plumbing's biggest leak. The old model matches clean generation to consumption once a year, across a whole continent — a low bar that lets a buyer look green while running on fossil power every windless night. The new model insists that clean supply match demand every hour, in the same grid region. Faraday's read: this is the difference between a diet you track by the year and one you track by the meal. Annual matching flatters everyone; hourly matching tells the truth, and the truth is harder and more expensive.
Knowledge check
What is the core difference between traditional annual renewable matching and twenty-four-seven carbon-free-energy matching?
Show the answer
Annual matching only requires that a buyer's total clean generation over a year equal its total consumption, regardless of when or where that generation occurred. Twenty-four-seven CFE matching requires clean supply to match demand in every hour and within the same grid region, exposing the times when a facility is actually running on fossil power that annual accounting hides.