In recent days I’ve started reading a book called Earth: The Sequel, which offers an exciting perspective on current efforts, both public and private, to “reinvent energy.” With a renewed sense of hope in mind, I did a little web-surfing this morning and found an article with some exciting news about our regional power company, Georgia Power.
Georgia Power has, in the last month, launched a green energy program for both business and residential customers in which customers can buy 100 kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable power (solar, wind, water, and biomass) to replace roughly 10% of their normal power consumption at a rate of $4.50 per month. The program has just been certified by an independent consumer protection program called Green-e,1 which certifies renewable energy programs in a similar way to how LEED certifies green construction projects. Georgia Power’s site claims that buying one 100 kilowatt-hour block monthly for a year will reduce the customer’s carbon footprint the equivalent of a 2,000 mile drive in a car.2 Nate and I just purchased two monthly blocks of renewable energy, adding an affordable $9.00 per month onto our power bill. Read the rest of this entry »