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http://www.greenmountain.com/pollutionfree/service s_rates.jsp

Those are blended rates shown on their table; my incremental rate is about $0.10/kWh.

I'm going room by room and unplugging all those other things, too, at the same time that I'm swapping in CFLs.

Energy does not have to come from a power plant that polutes the environment... Hydro-electricity, windmills and solar panels are but a tiny part of non-oil energy sources. I find it appalling that so many people think that you need oil to make electricity...

Green Mountain Energy in Texas now offers Pollution Free energy, generated from wind and water, that is priced the same as the major local provider's product (from natural gas, coal, and nuclear). Same price, renewable pollution free, you just have to switch. They also offer 100% wind that is a bit more expensive, and long-term contracts to lower the price a little.

My favorite part is no one in the US seems to want to actually deal with the consequences of their beleifs. Most claim they want to do something about global warming, until it means I can't fly to Tahiti this summer.

Hmm, I thought I was in America, but according to you, I must be living somewhere else. I wonder why we pay American federal income tax and get to send representatives to the American legislature.

I paid to have solar panels put on my roof. Not only do they generate clean, silent power, they are already about a third of the way done paying for themselves in reduced power bills after just a few years -- and after they've done that, they still have about a decade of expected useful lifetime, making them a profitable investment rather than an extra cost.

I am telecommuting 2-3 days a week to avoid driving in to the office. In fact, I'm typing this from my living room couch. In addition to pumping out less CO2 and saving me money on fuel, telecommuting also gives me a quiet work environment and saves me 45 minutes a day of useless time sitting in my car, leaving me more time to spend with my girlfriend and post to Slashdot. Here too, doing the environmentally friendly thing is also better in other respects. If you consider posting to Slashdot a good thing, anyway.

I've been using compact fluorescents instead of incandescent bulbs for years. More expensive up front, but they last for ages so once again, I save money (and that's just on the bulbs, not even on the power.)

Until California removed my ability to choose my electric utility, I was paying my monthly power bill to a renewables-based energy company. It was partially the loss of that choice that motivated me to invest in the solar panels.

So please take your cynical, incorrect overgeneralizations somewhere else. Or else, please explain how your model of US behavior (remember, you said "no one" here acts on their beliefs, not "many people") squares with the fact that there are several-months-long waiting lists for hybrid cars. Hint: there were waiting lists before the recent jump in fuel prices, too.

It has an output of 13 kw, and runs for 1 hour, so you get 13khw. On my electric bill, 1 kwh costs me $0.1206, so 60 miles costs me $1.56. To make things fair, let's look at gas prices before the recent upswing, say $1.60/gal. Say you have a fairly efficient car, 30mpg. 60 miles at 30mpg = $3.20, more than double. Even more in the case of an upswing like this one (comes to nearly $4 for 60 miles in my area).

Not to mention the warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing that you aren't polluting as much (provided your electricity is through someone like these guys).

I'm sure there are special case maintenance issues with an electric car over a gas powered one, but I would assume that they balance out. But I'm sure someone will point out that I'm wrong. Regardless, the point is that most people can afford one of these. And they are cheaper to run than what most people use for their commute car today.

all those who want to cut pollution should use greenmountain energy. All those in states where there is no greenmountain should tell them to come to your state.

"Have to"? None! (It can all be done with solar or wind power.) Right now, ISTR it's supplied by a specialist contractor who probably use regular grid electricity - which they could buy from someone like Green Mountain (who offer electricity in Texas generated exclusively from wind + hydro schemes). Using renewables to convert water into a totally clean-burning fuel is about as clean as it gets ;-)

Do they do it like that? Probably not, but it's possible.

The best solution will be some sort of ramjet-powered passenger vehicle. It won't necessarily help with satellite launches, but it would help reduce the costs of manned flights. Of course, that technology isn't ready for prime time, but it will be eventually (at this rate, probably before NASA gets around to selecting a replacement.)

It might get there one day, but in the mean time the Shuttle's present engines do just about the best you can expect, environmentally as well as fiscally.

I already have, thanks. Perhaps you should learn more about where your electricy could come from.

The bird thing was a strange consequence of the early Altamont Pass windfarms - they had put lattice towers under the small, fast turbines, and slapped the whole thing on a migratory raptor route. The raptors liked perching on the lattice and would drop off to hunt...smack.

Your average turbine now spins much slower (because they're much bigger) and sits on a tube tower. It seems like when the birds aren't actively perching on them, they do pretty well percieving and avoiding the blades. Though birdstrikes are down to nearly nothing (check AWEA for stats,) you still have to do a big EIS on any site to avoid migratory routes and nesting sites, etc. - to keep the strike numbers down and because they might avoid windfarms during migration, to their detriment energy-balance-wise.

Also, a megawatt turbine (ca. 3-400 homes,) doesn't really exclude a lot of land. In the US, out West, there's (anecdotally) enough otherwise unused grazing land in the Dakotas alone on high wind sites to provide our year-to-year energy growth for quite a while, once they build (and access) the transmission.)

Climatologically, 360 GW of atmospheric energy is pretty trivial, actually. (for instance, all that excess heat produced by our combustion engines is a below-roundoff-error calculation as well. But we could stand to pull some energy (aka heat) out of the atmosphere, given the rate we're increasing its retention with the CO2 blanket.

What it really comes down to, with wind and solar - how much energy can we really get out of it? More than 100 times as much as we have so far, that's for sure. So let's get on the stick about it! A good start, if you've read this far and still care, would be to go Buy some yourself!

I live in Texas, and I get 100% of my energy from wind power. Green Mountain Energy offers it, and seems to be doing well. It isn't cheaper, but it isn't much more expensive either. And IMHO it's worth it.

There is a BJ's that installed solar panels on their roof in Consohocken, PA. I think it was in cooperation with Green Mountain Power They are getting 43KW hours out if it a day. I'm trying to find the article but can't....

Of course the NE is not the best spot to get solar energy, and with electricy being sold for $0.0557/KWH, it can't get much cheaper than that. Of course, in PA 60% of our electricity is coal produced.

Did that include battery back up? I thought costs should be around $20k-$25k.

Personally I think Solar power in the U.S. should be supplemental power. Durning the day, the solar panels feed extra electricity into the grid, and at night, a home draws from the grid. They you wouldn't have to worry about batteries and all their hazardous materials.

You probably already have checked out this website if you were in the market for a solar solution, but in case you haven't Homepower

Good luck in your quest. Check out GreenMountain and purchase "cleaner" electricity. It's a start (if you are in on of the deregulated states.)

Actually this is already taking place in California. Customers in California can get their power from a company called Green Mountain which generates all of it's power from solar energy.

Here in California, we can buy our electricity from renewable, non-poluting sources, such as solar arrays and wind turbines.

This is available in other states too. Check out: Green Mountain Energy.

..brad

When my state (NJ) de-regulated the power companies, I immediately signed up for Green Mountain. They generate their electricity through Solar, Wind, and Hydroelectric.

Granted, I am still waiting for my signature form because they require a signature in order to switch you over.

People need to cut their consumption down, but the problem is that in the United States, everything is so far apart and we don't have a very good public transportation system. If I lived close enough to ride my bike to work or could take a bus or train, I definitely would do it!

Sport Utility Vehicles, on the other hand, should be kept to the same pollution restrictions as cars. I think that they are contributing all too much to the pollution problem. I was kind of hoping the rise in gas prices would deter people from buying these behemoths. :(

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