About CEC

CEC is a new idea in power generation that is building, operating and maintaining community-shared clean energy facilities. CEC is pioneering the model of delivering clean power-generation through medium-scale facilities that are collectively owned by participating utility customers. CEC's proprietary software automatically calculates monthly credits for members and integrates with the utilities' existing billing system. Our Mission

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15

States Served

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56

Projects Online

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50.8

  MW

   

Megawatts Online

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348.5

  MW

   

Under Development

Our energy sources—from the way that we heat, cool and power our homes and businesses, to how we travel—play an important role in air quality. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, gasoline and diesel emits toxic air pollution, and releases greenhouse gases, which drive climate change. Climate change not only directly endangers our health, but it also makes it more difficult to clean up harmful ozone and particle pollution. Transitioning away from dirty, polluting energy sources to clean energy is absolutely critical to protect the health of all Americans, now and for generations to come. It’s time to call on cities, states and our federal government to make clean, non-combustion renewables the norm.

How Climate Change Harms Air Quality

Understanding Types of Clean Energy

Two of the safest and most common renewable energy resources include solar and wind energy. But how do they work? Wind energy is created with wind turbines—which are placed anywhere with high speed winds —from hilltops to open water for offshore wind. Using wind to produce energy has fewer effects on the environment than many other energy sources because wind turbines have no direct air pollution emissions and they do not require water for cooling. The nation’s use of wind energy has grown dramatically over the past 30 years. Wind energy accounts for more than seven percent of U.S. energy generation, and advances in technology have greatly decreased costs. Solar energy uses solar cells—or photovoltaic (PV) cells—made from silicon or other materials that transform sunlight into electricity. Solar energy systems don’t produce air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions, although some emissions may be released during the manufacturing process. There have also been dramatic improvements in harnessing solar energy—reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Solar energy supplies nearly two percent of U.S. electricity generationForty percent of all new electricity generating capacity added in the U.S. in early 2020 was solar. Important note on biomass: Some consider burning biomass for energy as a source of renewable energy, but the American Lung Association is opposed to combustion of biomass and municipal solid waste because of possible air pollution. These sources create particle pollution and other carcinogens that endanger health. Decades of research show that burning fuels or materials to produce electricity creates pollutants that trigger asthma attacks and heart attacks, cause cancer, shorten lives and other harmful health impacts.

Why Change Matters

Switching to clean energy is an essential step to ensuring healthy air for all Americans. Air pollution—made worse by climate change—is unhealthy for everyone to breathe. Breathing polluted air contributes to an increase in health problems including asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, respiratory and cardiovascular harm, reproductive harm, lung cancer, and early death. Some groups are particularly at risk—including children, older adults, communities of color, and those with existing health issues. Using non-combustion renewable energy sources reduces air pollution dramatically and limits climate change-fueling greenhouse gas emissions. Aside from protecting health, it also makes practical sense. Switching to renewable energy sources is a great way to reduce dependence on imported fuels, create local jobs, and increase cost efficiency. Increasingly around the country, renewable energy is cost-competitive with energy from fossil fuels.