Sunday, May 28

Want green power?

I've lived in Missouri for the last four years and was always frustrated that we didn't have a green power option in our utility pool. We lived in Pennsylvania last, and we could choose a 100% renewable power utility, which was great. Missouri doesn't have that option (not sure about Kansas.)

The good news is I just found out today about green energy "tags" - you can buy them from other locations that have green power. When you buy them, they up their production capacity and displace a proportionate amount of energy from "conventional" power sources - coal, nuclear, etc. - in your area or elsewhere. YOUR electricity doesn't magically become "green," but power is power, and an amount equal to the tags you buy switches over from "conventional" to "green."

I bought some for our house. We're going to pay $20 a month to make ourselves "climate neutral." Clearly not everyone can do this, but if you care about stopping/slowing global warming, this seems like a pretty cool thing to do. They also offer smaller tag amounts - down to $1 a month I think.

Anyway, here are two sites that sell certified green energy "tags" -

http://www.nativeenergy.com
http://www.greentagsusa.com

Not as cool as a green utility, but every little bit counts. Plus if enough people do this in states that don't offer a green choice, maybe somebody will take notice.

Jesse Kates * www.sexyaccident.com