Need a good New Year's resolution? Switch to Green Power.
The following is an excerpt from the Texas State Energy Conservation Office web site InfinitePower.org about Green Power programs.
Switching to Green Power is probably the most effective single step one can take to reduce fossil fuel emmissions, and unlike most other New Year's resolutions, this one will last all year.
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What is Green Power?
The term "green power" generally refers to electricity supplied in whole or in part from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and various forms of biomass. Increasingly, electricity customers are being given electricity supply options, either as retail power markets open to competition or when their regulated utilities develop green pricing programs. Many electricity customers now have an option of purchasing a green power product directly from their electricity supplier or by switching to a supplier with a green power product. If such an option is not available, customers can support renewable energy development through the purchase of renewable energy certificates.
Why Buy Green Power?
By choosing to purchase a green power product, you can support increased development of renewable energy sources, which can reduce the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Greater reliance on renewable sources also provides economic benefits and can improve our national energy security. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's web site provides additional discussion of the benefits of renewable energy.
How Do I Buy Green Power?
Depending on where you live and who supplies your electricity, you will be able to buy green power in at least one of the following ways:
1. Switch to a retail electric provider that offers green power. This option is available to Texas electricity customers located in deregulated areas of the state. To see if switching is an option for you, visit the Texas Electric Choice website maintained by the Public Utilities Commission of Texas. After you enter your ZIP code, this site will tell you whether you can choose a retail electric provider, and, if so, what options are available. Another way to compare the green power offerings against each other and against other offerings is to visit the Power Scorecard, a web-based information tool created by a coalition of environmental groups that lets consumers compare the environmental impacts of green power and conventional power products.
2. Request a green power option from your current electric utility. If you can't switch, your current electricity provider may have already created a green power option. Some municipal utilities, rural electric cooperatives, and investor-owned utilities now offer a green power option. The U.S. Department of Energy keeps a list of so-called "green pricing" programs by state.
3. Purchase renewable energy certificates independently of your electricity. A number of companies offer renewable energy certificates (also called "RECs," "green tags," "tradable renewable certificates," or "TRCs") that can be purchased by anyone. These certificates represent the environmental attributes of electricity generated by renewable power plants. Purchasing them gives developers of those power plants additional revenue for the "green-ness" of the power they generate. It also gives electricity customers anywhere a means to ensure that their electricity consumption is being offset by production of an equal amount of green power. Green-e maintains a list of certificate providers in Texas available to residential and business electricity customers. They also have a nice page describing what green tags are and answering frequently-asked questions.
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Go to the web site for more information.
From the Texas State Energy Conservation Office web site (InfinitePower.org)
posted by Rob Powell @ 5:05 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
MANDATORY RENEWABLE ENERGY – THE ENERGY EVOLUTION –R2
In order to insure energy and economic independence as well as better economic growth without being blackmailed by foreign countries, our country, the United States of America’s Utilization of Energy sources must change.
"Energy drives our entire economy." We must protect it. "Let's face it, without energy the whole economy and economic society we have set up would come to a halt. So you want to have control over such an important resource that you need for your society and your economy."
Our continued dependence on fossil fuels could and will lead to catastrophic consequences.
The federal, state and local government should implement a mandatory renewable energy installation program for residential and commercial property on new construction and remodeling projects with the use of energy efficient material, mechanical systems, appliances, lighting, etc. The source of energy must by renewable energy such as Solar-Photovoltaic, Geothermal, Wind, Biofuels, etc. including utilizing water from lakes, rivers and oceans to circulate in cooling towers to produce air conditioning and the utilization of proper landscaping to reduce energy consumption.
The implementation could be done on a gradual scale over the next 10 years. At the end of the 10 year period all construction and energy use in the structures throughout the United States must be 100% powered by renewable energy.
In addition, the governments must impose laws, rules and regulations whereby the utility companies must comply with a fair “NET METERING” (the buying of excess generation from the consumer), including the promotion of research and production of “renewable energy technology” with various long term incentives and grants. The various foundations in existence should be used to contribute to this cause.
A mandatory time table should also be established for the automobile industry to gradually produce an automobile powered by renewable energy. The American automobile industry is surely capable of accomplishing this task.
This is a way to expedite our energy independence and economic growth. It will take maximum effort and a relentless pursuit of the private, commercial and industrial government sectors commitment to renewable energy – energy generation (wind, solar, hydro, biofuels, geothermal, energy storage (fuel cells, advance batteries), energy infrastructure (management, transmission) and energy efficiency (lighting, sensors, automation, conservation) in order to achieve our energy independence.
Jay Draiman
Northridge, CA. 91325
1-1-2007
P.S. I have a very deep belief in America's capabilities. Within the next 10 years we can accomplish our energy independence, if we as a nation truly set our goals to accomplish this.
I happen to believe that we can do it. In another crisis--the one in 1942--President Franklin D. Roosevelt said this country would build 60,000 [50,000] military aircraft. By 1943, production in that program had reached 125,000 aircraft annually. They did it then. We can do it now.
The American people resilience and determination to retain the way of life is unconquerable and we as a nation will succeed in this endeavor of Energy Independence..
In an article in Dec. 2007 - Solar at 30 cents per watt.
With backing from Google’s founders and $20 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, Nanosolar’s first commercial cells rolled off the presses this year.
Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodity (exacerbated currently by a global silicon shortage). What’s more, says Peter Harrop, chairman of electronics consulting firm IDTechEx, “it has to be put on glass, so it’s heavy, dangerous, expensive to ship and expensive to install because it has to be mounted.” And up to 70 percent of the silicon gets wasted in the manufacturing process. That means even the cheapest solar panels cost about $3 per watt of energy they go on to produce. To compete with coal, that figure has to shrink to just $1 per watt.
Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. “You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it,” says Dan Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. “It really is quite a big deal in terms of altering the way we think about solar and in inherently altering the economics of solar.”
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