The Exciting World of Green Utilities

Despite the 2006 upset in Congress, the alternative energy movement is
still moving forward on local,
rather than national, levels. For example, a number of
state utility companies are beginning to (voluntarily) seek out sources
of alternative energy. The Alternative Energy Blog at


published a list of the greenest utilities in the nation.
Surprisingly enough, Austin, Texas topped the list as having the
greenest utility. Austin
Energy obtains its renewable energy from wind power, land
fill gas and small hydro projects. They generate 435MWh /year. The wind
power is from a wind farm in western Texas with 61 wind turbines.
Additionally, the mayor of Austin, Mr. Wynn, has announced a new
climate protection plan in which 30% of the city's energy will come
from renewable sources by the year 2020. The picture below is from the
Austin Energy website and captures their wind turbines. The
environmental initiatives taken by Austin Energy include a Plus-In
Hybrid campaign, Green Building program, Solar rebates programs and a
solar loan program.

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If you are like me, you are
not only excited that such a utility exists, you are also interested in
their employment opportunities. Fear not! The Austin Energy website
(link below) has an employment section (second link below). I had a
hard time finding the actual jobs listing here; however, you can post
your resume directly to the website and can also email the company at
jobs@austinenergy.com for more information.





style="font-weight:bold;">Portland General Electric is
the second on Renewable Energy's list. They allow their customers to
pay extra for green electricity sources. For example, if you choose the
Green Source option, then you receiveelectricity from 100 percent
renewable energy sources, such as wind, geothermal and biomass. The
cost of this option is the regular bill plus an additional 0.008 per
kWh. This translates (according to their website) to about $7 more for
a typical residential customer. The Clean Wind option allows you to
purchase amounts of wind energy in order to support the growth of the
Northwestern Wind Industry. Additionally, with either the Green Source
or the Clean Wind option, you can choose the "Habitat Support" option,
which charges you $2.50 a month in return for helping the Nature
Conservancy support stream habitat for salmon and other fish. Damn,
that is almost enough to make me want to move out to Portland. Portland
General Electric also has employment opportunities, so check out the
two links below.





I
was getting kind of bummed out that all of these utilities options were
for west coasters. So I checked out a ridiculously cool website called
"Climate Counts." If you go to the link below, you can check on a
state-to-state basis to see what types of local green utilities options
are available in your area. I found out that a company calledPEPCO
Energy Services operates in my state and has Green Electricity 10%, 51%
or 200% usage. The source of thesis electricity is landfill gas.
Additionally, they have aNewWind Energy 51% or 100% usage plan, which
uses electricity from a wind farm. Additionally, the Washington Gas
Energy Services for greatermaryland has a New Wind Energy program as well.

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Finally, there is the opportunity to offset the carbon cost of your home utilities bill by buying CoolWatts at the link below. Be advised that CoolWatts
only goes to support Wind Energy, although I personally think that wind
energy is currently one of the most successful alternative energy
sources. I haven't fully investigatedCoolWatts , and do not own any
myself. Therefore, be sure to research before buying any. That said, it
seems like a cheap (less than $100 a year) way to offset your carbon
costs and send a message to our governments, local and national, about
the need for clean energy sources.



Anyways,
I am currently up in Vermont, enjoying the thunderstorms rolling
through. I hope that everyone is enjoying the weekend.

- Emily