Riding the Wave of Renewables: Inexpensive Clean Energy for Your Home
Editor’s note: We had a technical glitch earlier this week, and some posts got published before they were supposed to. Gavin’s was one of them — by the time we’d discovered it, though, it had already gotten out to several social bookmarking sites. We didn’t, however, want it buried immediately…
Clean, renewable energy is sweeping the country like a wave, and now
for the individual consumer, it’s “surf’s up!” Power your home with
100% renewable energy for only a few dollars a month through your existing energy supplier.
This month, for the first time, I can’t wait to pay my energy bill. I’ll be looking for a small charge on the bill that indicates that all of my household’s energy has come from renewable sources. Want to be as excited about your energy bill? For many people, supplying renewable energy to their home is as easy as calling their current electrical service provider.
If you live in the U.S., visit the Green Power Network on the U.S. Dept. of Energy website for a state-by-state list of the electrical power companies that give their customers the option of choosing renewables. Whether you get “Climate Smart” with West Coast provider, PG&E, or “Harvest the Wind” in the heartland of the country, you will be excited to find that clean, renewable energy is a reality for you, your friends and your family.
How does it work?
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. If putting solar PV panels on your home and enjoying an energy-bill-free future isn’t an option, why not build solar, wind, and geothermal energy farms in your state? Many local electrical companies offer the choice to pay a nominal fee (usually 1-3¢/kWh), which goes toward building and supplying a renewable energy infrastructure. This is the best thing since Ben met Jerry! Just find your state on this map to see if your current electrical service provider offers this option.
But isn’t renewable energy cheaper than non-renewable energy? Why does this cost a couple dollars more each month? The costs of coal (the widely-used alternative to renewables) are spread out in several directions: in the massive energy needed to transport and burn the coal, in medical expenses from lung and heart health, in the environmental costs of strip mining, mountain-top removal and acid rain, in the associated costs of Climate Change, in the cost of air visibility due to smog, etc. The costs of renewables: simply build and maintain the equipment and you have yourself clean, cheap energy for all. Your few dollars a month goes into building and maintaining a growing network of renewable energy sources that hold the promise of ridding us of dirty coal once and for all.
What if your energy provider doesn’t offer renewables yet?
If your energy company’s renewables program isn’t available just yet, hang tight. Give them a call to ask what steps they are making to bring renewable energy to you. In the meantime, you can feel just as good about buying renewable energy from a nation-wide energy provider. Click here to find certified national providers of clean energy. Or, simply march down to Whole Foods (which already uses 100% renewable energy in its stores) and buy a Wind Power Card for $5, $10, or $15. These are just a few of the options that will effortlessly turn your home into a shining icon of green.
You can also check out which cities are buying large amounts of renewable energy here. Contact your city government and tell them how important it is to you to green your public buildings with clean energy.
Want renewable energy outside the U.S.?
There are many renewable energy providers spread across the world. First try contacting your electrical provider or government energy department to learn about renewable energy programs. You can also find out how to support the development of renewables in your area of the world by contacting the regional or national government and asking what steps you can take. It could be that a percentage of your taxes already pays for the equivalent of your home’s renewable energy.
Otherwise, you can simply offset the energy you use by purchasing that much renewable energy. This is an excellent way to increase demand for renewable energy worldwide and make our global society a little greener. You may even wish to become a partner in a local renewable energy co-op, like Ontario, Canada’s WindShare.
So bring your friends and family and join in the Renewables Revolution. It’s an easy way to become a part of one of the most exciting movements in human history: the development of a truly sustainable society.
References and Resources:
If you liked this post, also check out: “Buy Renewable Energy for Yourself” by Maria Surma Manka and “Real Renewable Energy vs. Renewable Energy Credits” by Philip Proefrock.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leannz0r/473974362/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/31824130@N00/206532437/
Tags: Activism, Climate Change, Community, Culture, Environment, Family, Geothermal, Green Building, Home and Garden, Home and Interior, Renewable Power, renewable+energy, Solar, Wind
August 19th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Docrivs sent in this comment and question via Stumble Upon:
"I’ve just surfed around and found an interesting-looking documentary that aired on Discovery Channel, called "Addicted To Oil". I’d like to check that out. As in the doc I recently watched, "A Crude Awakening", the reporter, Tom Friedman, advocates affecting the energy market by eliminating government subsidies for gasoline and making the consumer pay at the pump. In this way, he expects that green technologies will be able to enter in to the picture. We are living in too much abundance here in the States, and he reminds us about all of the "developing" countries that want to live like we do. Our global culture of consumption that we have created has entered us into an "age of consequences" (as Al Gore spoke in "An Inconvenient Truth"), and now we have to have a sense of urgency.
What do you think about the gas subsidies and raising the price at the pump? Is that a good solution to driving green innovation and bringing green tech into the hands of consumers? Are you hopeful about our energy future?"
August 19th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Hi Docrivs,
Your questions are excellent ones, and I wish that I had the answers. I
do believe that rising gas prices are causing law-makers and the
average citizen as well to take another look at public transportation,
bicycling, walking, and working closer to home as excellent ways to
save money. It also helps that the general public has become so much
more conscious about the impacts of oil consumption on the environment
and the political stability of the countries from which it comes.
However, I have also noticed that people will insist on driving to work
even while perfectly good alternatives abound by instead saving money
on other, more necessary commodities such as food and clothing.
Last year, California proposed a visionary measure intended to tax oil
companies at no expense to the consumer and invest the revenue in
renewable energy. The legislation specified that a 1% - 6% tax would be
levied on oil producers, depending on the cost of oil, making it a very
lenient and flexible tax. This money would be transfered to the
government, where it would be put toward the development of an
infrastructure of energy from renewable resources throughout
California. Unfortunately, the oil companies that would have been the
subject of this tax paid advertisers to commonly mislabel the tax a
"gas tax" and infer that the cost would be paid at the pump. In fact,
the legislation specified that the tax could not legally be passed on
to consumers. I harp on at length about this legislation because I
believe that it would have been effective in accomplishing what you
mention: to "bring green tech into the hands of consumers."
But, fortunately, legislation of this sort is not the only tool we have
in the fight for renewable energy and a sustainable society. I am
hopeful about our energy future. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly,
every person in the US today has the power to support renewable energy
in equal measure to the energy that they require in their daily lives.
Increasingly, energy providers (the same companies we pay our utility
bills to) are buying their energy not from coal companies, but from
wind, solar, geothermal, and other clean energy suppliers. They need
the help of their customers to show them that this is the route that
they should follow and to assist in the financial cost of switching to
renewable resources. Therefore, many energy providers today give
customers the chance to make a very humble addition to their monthly
energy bill. This money is used to support the switch away from coal
and fossil fuels and toward a sustainable and healthy society. You can
find out if your energy provider offers this truly necessary and
exciting option either by contacting them directly or by visiting http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/buying/buying_power.shtml.
If your utility company is still without the resources to make this
important switch, you can offset your energy use with a certified green
energy provider listed at the same web address above.
I do think that gradually eliminating the subsidies on gas is not only
necessary but inevitable. However, I am deeply encouraged by the
opportunities that we, as consumers, have today to change the way our
society operates.
Please pass on opportunities for energy independence, including that
which I mention above, to your friends and family. By determining to
care about the consequences of our choices, we determine the direction
of our future.
Gavin