Environmental Leader

Whole Foods Market has signed up with Renewable Choice Energy to sell a Wind Power Card, available at approximately 80 Whole Foods Market locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Produced by Renewable Choice Energy, Wind Power Cards let consumers buy certified wind energy credits equivalent to a household’s average monthly electricity consumption: 750 kilowatt hours for a family, 250 kilowatt hours for an individual. The cards retail for $15 and $5, respectively. Activated on purchase, the cards help support the development of renewable energy nationwide.

Renewable Choice Energy has faced a bit of a backlash since Whole Foods introduced the card. “You don’t even get any credits, it’s just a word they use to give you a sense of getting something from your money. The money you spend goes towards helping Renewable Choice Energy buy and sell electricity,” according to a post in Boing Boing.

“If we want to support renewable energy and each claim our own chunk of wind power, renewable energy credits – or as we sometimes call them, wind energy credits – are the best deal going,” Ted Rose, director of business development at Renewable Choice Energy wrote in Grist article. “And recently these credits have come of age. Big companies like Wells Fargo, Whole Foods Market, and Vail Resorts are buying them. They are also used by all 19 states employing a renewable portfolio standard to promote alternative energy development.”