Piedmont Natural Gas introduces GreenEdge program for North Carolina customers
Piedmont Natural Gas has launched a new program called GreenEdge that allows its customers in North Carolina to purchase green “blocks” to reduce the environmental impact of their natural gas usage.
A green block is a blend of environmental attributes from carbon offsets and renewable natural gas. Each block, which costs $3 per month, represents the environmental attributes of renewable natural gas and carbon offsets and is equivalent to 12.5 therms of natural gas usage. Just one block is equal to 25 percent of the average household’s monthly natural gas usage, so customers who purchase four blocks could claim associated environmental benefits for approximately 100 percent of their monthly household natural gas usage. When a customer purchases a block, Piedmont will add the associated charges to that customer’s bill. There is no limit on how many blocks a customer can purchase.
“Our customers have shown a real interest in having access to tools and programs they can use to pursue their own carbon-reducing goals,” Sasha Weintraub, president of Piedmont Natural Gas, said. “We’ve designed the GreenEdge program based on this feedback, and we consider it an important part of our own clean energy transformation.”
This program, which is completely voluntary, is available to residential and commercial customers. Participating customers will receive an annual report highlighting their contributions and their overall effect on GreenEdge.
A carbon offset is a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions created when one metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions, or other greenhouse gas equivalent, is captured, avoided, or destroyed to compensate for an equivalent emission made elsewhere.
An environmental attribute (EA) is an aspect, claim, characteristic, or benefit associated with the generation of a quantity of natural gas by a renewable source that is capable of being measured, verified, or calculated.
Piedmont Natural Gas is a subsidiary of Duke Energy. It distributes natural gas to more than 1.1 million residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
