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.

New Meetup Group for Green Professionals

If you are a professional in an eco-friendly business, there's a new Meetup group that's just been formed just for you!

According to organizer Don Rosenberg, the Natural Living Circle of Charlotte is "a networking group for professionals in healthy living/eco-friendly businesses. We meet to learn about each other and then exchange business cards. When we're talking with our clients we learn about their needs in other areas and are able to refer them to our group members."

The group meets once a month and membership is free. A speakers bureau is also in the works. The first meeting is Wednesday, September 19th. Visit the group's Meetup site for details: http://wellness.meetup.com/130/

Consumer Consequences

What if everyone lived like you do? How many planets would we need to keep up with the pace of our consumption if everyone on Earth had your lifestyle?

American Public Media can give you the answer with Consumer Consequences. This online game is easy to play and gives you an immediate idea of how your lifestyle affects the planet by multiplying your affect times the globe's entire population. Everything gets tossed into the mix - your buying habits, transportation needs, the amount you recycle and even the size of your home.

It took about 15 minutes for me to complete. The information you gain is well worth the time invested. As for my results - let's just say it would definitely take more than one planet! The good news is, the web site gave me an idea of where I'm doing a good job (recycling) and where I need to try to find some other solutions (transportation and energy use).

Play Consumer Consequences: http://sustainability.publicradio.org/
Learn more about American Public Media: http://americanpublicmedia.publicradio.org/

Plastic Bags Edge Out Paper (Sort of)

EarthTalk on www.emagazine.com has some surprising facts about the “paper versus plastic” issue. Based on a study done in 1990 by Franklin Associates, plastic bags edge out paper bags in the “not quite as bad” category: “The Franklin report concluded that two plastic bags consume 13 percent less total energy than one paper bag. Additionally, the report found that two plastic bags produce a quarter of the solid waste, a fifteenth as much waterborne waste and half the atmospheric waste as one paper bag.” (read the article here: http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3893)

Of course, the article goes on to point out that plastic is not biodegradable and that the bags are one of the 12 most commonly found items during coastal cleanups according to the California Coastal Commission. So the best answer is still “neither, thanks, I brought my own”.

Supercapitalism on NPR

There was an interesting interview on NPR’s Fresh Air today. Robert Reich, former secretary of labor in the Clinton administration (he now teaches public policy at the University of California at Berkeley) talked about his new book, Supercapitalism and the “divided mind of the consumer and citizen”. We want the best deals at the store, the best returns in the stock market – yet also we want better wages and benefits for employees, we dislike outsourcing, etc. Our choices as investors and consumers are at odds with our values as citizens.

I listened to part of this broadcast after leaving Target. I glanced over at the plastic bag next to me, which held some tshirts for my son made in the Philippines out of 100% conventional cotton and a plastic bottle of water that I grabbed on impulse in an attempt to battle the heat of the afternoon.

There was no connection between my citizen values and those purchases. In fact, I hadn’t really thought about it at all. I was in a hurry, squeezing in an errand between two appointments and my mind was on expediency, schedules and tasks…not the environment, fair wages or pesticide use. I’ll recycle the bottle and the plastic bag, but I could have done so much better by being conscious of my actions during that trip. I forgot about the tote bag in the back of my car that I carry to keep from using excess plastic bags. I didn’t plan ahead to try to find organic cotton tshirts (they might not even exist in the size or type I needed, but I never checked).

This, I suppose, is why I’m green around the edges instead of just being green.

To listen to the interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14321590

Can't Sleep On It, Can't Donate it

A friend of mine recently needed to get rid of one of her mattresses. Her first thought - donate it. She called a number of local organizations to try to give this almost-new mattress to a worthy cause, but with no success.

My next thought was to recycle it. No success there either. However, I did learn a couple of things in the process.

First, in our time-starved world it can be really hard to follow through on your best intentions. I called one local charity at five different locations to find out if they would accept mattresses, but only received voice mail, disconnected numbers and "not at this location, try....". But I do believe that even though we can't hit a home run every time we can eventually make a difference if we at least try with each opportunity that presents itself, as my friend did.

The second thing I learned is that the folks that use the most mattresses - hotels and the like - also struggle with the same problem. Green Lodging News has an interesting article about a military base in South Carolina trying to find a solution for disposal of their 5,000 to 7,000 mattresses per year when the local landfill decided they would no longer accept them. Not solutions that will work for us at home, but it provides interesting perspective on the volume of the problem.
http://www.greenlodgingnews.com/Content.aspx?id=1276