While solar panel technology is still expensive, purchasing green electricity from your energy company is not.
But, like many others, you might have questions before signing up for a green electricity plan from your local utility company. What will it cost? How will it get to my house? How green is my green energy? Following is a crash course for the renewable energy neophyte.
The Price of Green Energy
“Renewable power is less expensive than you think,” says Thor Hinckley of Green Power Oregon, a subsidy of Portland General Electric (PGE). Customers with Green Power Oregon’s Green Resource plan can expect to pay an average of $9 extra per month on their bills, a relatively small price when you consider the environmental benefits. ”In 2009, PGE renewable power customers avoided more than 544 million pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the air, which is the same as taking 48,000 cars off the road,” says Hinckley. Since 2002, that adds up to more than 2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of removing 185,000 cars off the road or planting 128 million trees.
Many Shades of Green from your Energy Supplier
Buying renewable energy does not mean that you are buying electricity directly from a wind or solar farm. It means that the power entering the electric grid on your behalf is coming from renewable resources such as the wind or the sun.
Your contribution to that energy grid can be 100% green or partially green, depending on how much you want to spend. If you decide to go partially green, the remaining energy that you use will come from traditional, nonrenewable resources such as oil and natural gas.
To green up your energy plan, some green energy suppliers offer you the ability to buy more kilowatt hours of renewable energy. For example, in Green Power Oregon’s Clean Wind plan you may purchase wind energy in increments of 200 kWh, which represents about 25 percent of your monthly usage. Each unit costs $3.50 and you can buy as many as you like.
The future of Green Electricity
In the past decade, people have become more comfortable with the idea of purchasing renewable energy. Green Power Oregon’s enrollment in their renewable power plan has jumped from 4,900 customers since its beginning in 2001 to more than 73,000 today.
“The future for renewable power looks bright with more and more customers paying just a little bit extra per month,” says Hinckley. “They are helping change the way electricity is made.”
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