On Aug 14, 2012, at 5:03 PM, steve harley wrote: > on 2012-08-14 10:46 Paul Stenquist wrote >> Whether you pay the premium or not, the wind resources available will be >> used. You're just subsidizing the utility company. I'd want to examine their >> balance sheet closely before signing up for that. If you're in the United >> States (sorry I can't recall), your utility company is probably required to >> deliver a specific amount of renewable energy by a given date. Most >> utilities offer plans for customers to "purchase wind energy." In essence, >> they're passing the cost of compliance along to the consumers and protecting >> their profits. > > good concerns … > > the energy in question in the Colorado program is promised to be above and > beyond renewable energy mandates; when the program was oversold a few years > ago, the utility had to buy renewable energy credits to backfill it; the cost > is stated as the actual cost of adding renewable sources to the system over > time; there is oversight by our utility commission, which is not especially > progressive, but which has forced adjustments to the program over the years; > it's not perfect, but i believe it is a significant factor in our utility's > renewable program; at present 17% of our state's electricity comes from wind; > Xcel expects to hit the mandated 30% (from all renewables) three years early > in 2017
That's commendable, and Colorado needs it. According to the last EPA measurement of regional power and the Union of Concerned Scientists, Colorado has the dirtiest power in the United States in terms of CO2 emissions, or at least it did in 2009. I researched those numbers for an article I wrote about electric car charging, and how the carbon footprint of those vehicles varies with respect to where one plugs in. By the numbers, a fully electric car driven in the Denver area is responsible for the same amount of greenhouse gas per mile as a car that achieves 33 mpg combined, approximately that of a Mazda 3. The article and links to some of the research are here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/automobiles/how-green-are-electric-cars-depends-on-where-you-plug-in.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp Paul > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
