Local electric customers find Puget Sound Energy’s “Green Power” program to be an easy way to reduce their carbon footprint. As we enter our peak electrical use, for the year, now is a great time to consider “going green.” For more than a year, all the electricity supplying our home has come to us through renewable sources. One day, we’d like to heat our water using solar, and maybe generate some of our own electricity. But, until that happens – and even after it does – PSE’s Green Power program is right for us.
According the the PSE web site, “Through the Green Power Program at Puget Sound Energy (PSE), you can support the development of electricity generated from renewable sources in the Northwest for as little as $4 per month. PSE’s Green Power Program is one of the top 10 Green Power Programs in the country (source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 12/2007).”
The purchase of Green Power, through PSEs program represents an investment in renewable power. “PSE uses the funds collected from the Green Power Program to purchase green power, educate the public and market renewable energy, and administer the program. PSE is required to report annually on our Green Power Program’s progress to the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Committee (WUTC) and Washington State Department of Community Trade and Economic Development, who in turn present their findings from throughout the state to the Washington State Legislature.”
You can purchase 100 percent of your energy from renewable sources for only $0.0125 per kWh on top of your monthly electric charges. But, you can choose buy only a portion of your electrical needs through the program, for as little as $4 per month.
For more information on the Green Power program and to sign up click here for the PSE web site.
Join the thousands of Puget Sound Energy customers who have already signed up to supply all or a portion of their electrical needs using green power (the Olympia area has the second highest participation rates, behind Bellingham, in the program).
The City of Bellingham, incidentally, has chosen to purchase its municipal electrical supply entirely through the program. I look forward to the day when both Olympia and Thurston County governments make that choice, too.
Click here to read a recent article, from the Olympian, which describes how other local families are reducing their carbon footprints.
— MARK MESSINGER