Green Around the Edges- Charlotte Issue 4

October 2007
Volume 1, Number 4


Energy Answers
What NC GreenPower is Doing About Our Energy Challenges

The energy problems we face sometimes seem overwhelming. They are so monumental and complex, in fact, that it’s hard to believe our individual choices could make a difference.

I don’t know if they will. Greater minds than mine (and there are many) will have to decide. But when I hear statistics that hit home with me, like the fact that average visibility in the Smoky Mountains has been reduced from 113 miles to 25 (source: NCGreenPower), I feel compelled to do something, so I contribute $4 each month to NC Greenpower. That said, I have to follow up with the fact that when I started, I really didn’t know why. It seemed like a “green” thing to do, and for $4 I figured I’d say “yes” when asked if I would be willing to add it to my power bill and figure out the details later.

Well, later has arrived. Here are the details (some I knew, some I shamefully didn’t) about the program. Check it out and decide for yourself if it’s something you’d like to add to your power bill each month.

What is it?
NC GreenPower is a non-profit corporation with a goal of encouraging the development of renewable energy resources in North Carolina. They do this through consumers’ voluntary contributions toward green power purchases by electric utilities in North Carolina. These power sources include wind, landfill methane gas, biomass, small hydroelectric and solar photovoltaic.

I like that it allows us a way to participate in a solution, even a partial one, at a price point that we can choose ($4 or up). The producers are in North Carolina, the funds go to them (75%) and NC GreenPower for administration costs (25%) – not to the utilities. It’s an easy, inexpensive way to participate in something positive.


Does it really make a difference?
For every $4 contributed to the program, 100 kWh is added to the state’s power supply. According to NC GreenPower, that 100 kWh is equivalent to the electricity used by a full-sized refrigerator in a month.

It sounds like a bit more of an impact when you look at it in annual terms. The annual reduction of CO2emissions from one block of NC GreenPower subscribed monthly is equivalent to planting 192 trees, or not driving 3,039 miles or 73 days. You can also visit the program’s environmental benefits calculator provided at their website (link below) to see what kind of difference your contribution should make.

About Energy
For an interesting (really!) primer on energy, try Alfred W. Crosby’s Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity’s Unappeasable Appetite for Energy. The book starts at the beginning – the very beginning. Chapter 1 is titled “Fire and Cooking” and Chapter 4 is “Coal and Steam”. All important stuff, but for me the book became riveting (well, really intriguing, anyway) when Chapter 6, “Electricity”, was followed closely by fission, fusion and a discussion of the practical application of a variety of alternative energy sources. “The question is not if but when we will have an oil shortage,” writes the author. His point is not that he is predicting we will run out of oil in an absolute sense but rather he focuses on the fact that the political and financial factors related to getting to the dwindling reserves will become more of an issue. It’s available at the library if you’re interested!


Resources and Digging Deeper
· Find out more about NC GreenPower at http://www.ncgreenpower.org/. Link to the environmental benefits calculator by clicking “Benefits Calculator” on the menu displayed on the left side of the screen.
· If you’d like to see how much you’ll save by installing CFL bulbs in your home, try Union Power’s tool at http://www.union-power.com/kwh/index.html.

· Read about the Sierra Club’s position on nuclear power plants in North Carolina at their site: http://nc.sierraclub.org/issues/energy.asp
· If you’d like to read Alfred W. Crosby’s book about energy, here’s the detail:
Crosby, Alfred W. Children of The Sun: A History of Humanity’s Unappeasable Appetite for Energy. W.W. Norton and Company. New York. 2006.