FAQ
EACs
What's an EAC?
An EAC is an Energy Attribute Certificate, which represents a unique claim to the environmental benefits of a decarbonization project. EACs are granular certificates assigned to a watt-hour of energy or a gram of CO2 that specify all attributes of the underlying energy resource, including asset type, production time, precise location, local grid carbon emissions intensity, resource operation start date, and reporting Scope (1, 2, or 3). Think of it as a full nutritional label for the energy involved with carbon reduction projects. With an EAC you can always know exactly where, when, and how the energy was created or saved, providing an auditable history of the carbon or energy savings from a particular product.
Read more about EACs.
What’s the difference between an EAC and a REC?
An EAC represents the full scope of environmental and social benefits associated with clean energy, whereas a REC (Renewable Energy Credit) represents the generic environmental attributes of a megawatt-hour of clean energy production. By providing visibility into specific attributes like carbon impact and hour of the day, EACs enable clean energy buyers to be more strategic with their investments, and ensure that they’re making the greatest impact.
Because EACs attribute both energy & carbon savings, they can be issued from all types of clean energy technologies, including distributed energy resources like Energy Efficiency, Demand Response, and Electrification.
Can EACs track Scope 1, 2, or 3?
EACs can certify energy and carbon emissions related to Scopes 1, 2 & 3. EAC ownership is based on the ownership of the asset from which the EAC was sourced. Scope 1 and 2 emissions always accrue to the asset owner. Scope 3 emissions always accrue to a third party. Similarly, EACs that represent emissions savings can be assigned to asset owners and third parties by Scope.
What are the units of measurement in an EAC?
All EACs include units of watt-hours or grams of CO2e, following established industry methodologies.
EACs certified from solar panels, batteries, and demand flexibility use one watt-hour as the primary unit.
EACs certified from electrification use one gram of CO2 as the primary unit.
More Questions?
Reach out to us at support@wattcarbon.com and let us help.
Exchange
What can I buy from the WattCarbon OpenEAC Exchange?
You can buy EACs from distributed clean energy projects including rooftop solar, demand response, energy efficiency, battery storage and electrification. Suppliers are required to register their EACs in WEATS and support their claims with documentation submitted to the OpenEAC Alliance.
Interested in purchasing EACs? Please reach out to us at info@wattcarbon.com.
Does WattCarbon support hourly, 24/7 clean energy procurement?
Yes! WEATS EACs are generated by the hour and include information about the precise operations of each EAC-generating asset. If you are interested in procuring specific hours please reach out to us directly at support@wattcarbon.com and we can help you create a custom procurement plan.
What is a vPPA for distributed energy resources?
Organizations can invest in vPPAs (Virtual Power Purchase Agreements) for DERs (Distributed Energy Resources) to accelerate the deployment of new distributed clean energy projects. Organizations invest in the project in return for the EACs generated by the clean energy resource for its lifespan. The EAC investment lowers consumer costs, reduces barriers, and accelerates the deployment of new projects.
When contracting for a vPPA for DERs, an organization may focus on specific attributes that are important to its goals, with the ability to target any US market, optimize for grid carbon intensity, or expand access to the social and equity benefits of distributed clean energy.
How does WattCarbon aggregate distributed energy projects?
WattCarbon matches distributed energy resource suppliers across the United States with organizations looking to procure EACs to meet their clean energy goals. WattCarbon works with organizations to understand their procurement volume and attribute preferences, and facilitates fulfillment of that procurement by working with one or several DER supplier partners to aggregate new clean energy projects. All projects are registered in The WattCarbon Energy Attribute Tracking System (WEATS), and EACs for every watt-hour of clean energy are delivered to the procuring organization.
WEATS Pro FAQs
Can I use WEATS to track my company’s decarbonization projects?
Yes! WEATS Pro is our data platform to power your clean energy projects. WEATS Pro provides you with an auditable system of record to track all of your energy consumption, energy savings, energy production, and carbon impacts.
Interested in learning more? Reach out to us at info@wattcarbon.com to schedule a demo.
What does it mean to retire my EACs and how do I do that?
"Retiring" an EAC means that you retain ownership of it in perpetuity; it cannot be sold to someone else. Only the party that "retires" the EAC can claim the environmental benefits in a sustainability report. For example, when a business says it is "powered by 100% clean electricity", it means it either produced or purchased and retired a number of EACs equal to its power consumption.
Retiring an EAC is simple. You can retire your EACs from your “EAC Management” tab when logged into your WattCarbon account. Once retired, the EAC and its environmental benefits are permanently assigned to your organization.
If I want to retire some of my EACs but not all of them, can I do that?
Yes! EACs are grouped in hourly increments, and can be retired or sold in any hourly grouping from your WattCarbon dashboard.
How do you calculate the carbon emissions associated with renewable energy and demand response?
WattCarbon uses publicly available data provided by the United States Energy Information Agency directly sourced from daily reports provided by the 65 balancing authorities that manage grids across the United States. The EIA calculates a consumed carbon intensity for each grid for each hour of the day using open source methods for estimating the carbon intensity of imported and exported energy alongside energy produced and consumed within a grid. The consumed carbon emissions divides total emissions by total electric consumption for each hour of the day and is reported in grams/kWh.
WattCarbon methodologies are open-source and certified by the OpenEAC Alliance. The OpenEAC Alliance is an industry group formed to ensure quality, consistency and transparency in distributed energy resource (DERs) measurement and verification.
How does WattCarbon ensure that EACs are not counted twice?
WattCarbon’s registry, WEATS, prevents double counting by assigning a unique ID for every watt-hour for each EAC The unique identifier enables WattCarbon to identify the specific source and timing of the Energy Attribute Right and allows for complete auditability for all transactions. WEATS is designed to maintain compliance with the requirements of existing standards, such as the GHG Protocol.
How does WattCarbon certify EACs from avoided emissions?
EACs are certified for avoided emissions by calculating the amount of emissions a building would have produced prior to the decarbonization project and subtracting the lower level of emissions once the project has been completed. The delta between these is the carbon data we use to calculate the avoided emissions for an EAC.
For more information on our methodologies, please reach out to us at info@wattcarbon.com.
Can the owner of an EAC transfer the EAC to a different entity?
Yes, an owner of an EAC can transfer the ownership claim to another entity. WEATS enables a chain of custody audit log. The transfer may be to a separate company or within the same company. For example, a company with many buildings can transfer the EAC from one building to another, in order to reach each buildings’ net zero goals. Alternatively, if an asset owner has arranged an external sale with a buyer, not executed through the marketplace, they may transfer the EACs via WEATS.
What are the benefits associated with using the WEATS Pro as a corporate user?
The WEATS Pro enables a chain of custody audit log. Any company may register EACs or RECs purchased externally and retire them on WEATS Pro, register their own assets to claim ownership over the environmental benefits of on-site DERs, and/or transfer EAC ownership to other entities.
How does transferring or selling the EACs generated from my clean energy interventions impact my sustainability reporting?
After transferring or selling Scope 2 EACs, the original entity may not make an ownership claim of these environmental benefits on their sustainability report. The total amount of MWh forfeited in EACs,, representing either renewable energy generation or avoided energy consumption, must be added back into the total amount of energy consumption for the building’s operations.
Measurement and Verification (M&V) FAQs
Can WattCarbon perform the Measurement and Verification for my decarbonization projects?
Absolutely. WattCarbon uses a set of open source M&V methodologies that have been verified by industry experts in the OpenEAC Alliance. To perform the methodology and mint EACs, WattCarbon will charge a minting fee based on the total MWh or Tons of CO2 (for more information on pricing, please contact info@wattcarbon.com).
Can I use my own organization's Measurement and Verification methodology to mint EACs?
Any outside M&V must be submitted and certified by the OpenEAC Alliance. Once certified, WattCarbon can link directly to this methodology so it is properly recorded and linked to the newly minted EACs.
To protect from conflict of interest, a Seller of EACs cannot both own the EACs and perform the M&V.
- For example, if a building owner installs a new heat pump system, they cannot perform their own M&V since they own the EACs directly and would have a conflict of interest. They would need to have a third party perform the M&V or have WattCarbon directly perform the M&V for the project.
What M&V can WattCarbon perform?
WattCarbon is able to perform M&V directly for:
- Solar Projects
- Electrification (Heat Pumps)
- Energy Storage Projects (Batteries)
- Demand Flexibility
- Energy Efficiency Projects
If you have additional questions about exactly what kind of M&V we can assist with, please reach out to us at info@wattcarbon.com.
Supplier FAQs
What are the eligibility requirements to register my decarbonization projects?
The installation of the asset needs to be in place and fully completed. For example, installed solar panels would need to be fully installed and generating electricity to be able to mint EACs.
You must own the rights to the Environmental Attributes of the installed Asset. Generally, the non-power Attributes are owned by the building/device owner unless specified otherwise in the contract.
What is an “Asset”?
An Asset is the term describing the energy intervention that results in EACs, such as a solar panel system, battery, demand response event, or building that underwent an energy efficiency upgrade.
Can I register not-yet-completed projects on WEATS?
No, only completed projects are able to generate EACs for immediate purchase. Our Exchange does facilitate pre-orders for the future EACs that will be created by a registered Asset.
If you're interested in financing not-yet-started projects, please speak with us about structuring a vPPA.
Can I receive EACs retroactively for dates preceding when I registered my Assets?
Yes, we can retroactively mint EACs to the Operation/Activation Date of the Asset. However, WattCarbon cannot create EACs that would have been generated earlier than January 1st, 2023.
What if my customers own the rights to the EACs?
Great! You may leverage WEATS as a new market opportunity that your company can unlock for your customers. Your customers may register their own Assets, or you can register and manage them on your customers’ behalf.
Can I list Assets that are already listed on other registries?
Yes. You may list Assets on our Exchange without having to de-register them on another registry. When the EACs are purchased on the WattCarbon Exchange, the original REC will be retired and reissued in an hourized EAC format into the buyer’s account.
What data is required to mint EACs? How do you calculate carbon savings?
Each resource type uses a different measurement and verification methodology. For Solar and Batteries, we collect inverter-based metered electricity data. For demand response, we collect market settlement data. For electrification, we model energy savings based either on pre-project baseline consumption or building square footage. For an exact list of data requirements, please reach out to info@wattcarbon.com.
While we do measurement and verification for a range of resource types, we also allow our suppliers to use their own carbon savings M&V and send WattCarbon savings data instead of the raw energy data. To do this, you can submit your methodology to the OpenEAC Alliance for approval.
Can I register retrofit projects as well as new construction?
Yes, although the methodology for calculating emissions savings will differ.
How can I get my company added to the OpenEAC Exchange to sell EACs?
Easy! Reach out to our team at support@wattcarbon.com to get started! We will collect things like your company logo, your impact story, and the regions you have projects in.
How much does it cost to be added to the OpenEAC Exchange?
There is no upfront cost to be a supplier on the OpenEAC Exchange. No fee to get set up, no fee to list your projects, and no fee to place EACs for sale. WattCarbon takes a percentage of the sale price when the EACs are actually sold to a buyer, never before.