Affordable Renewable Electricity is Here!

by Jim Winkle (updated 9-Mar-2008)

Global warming is emerging as one of the most important issues of our time. The single largest cause of global warming is electricity usage because coal-fired power plants are collectively the largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S.

Fortunately, there are three ways to easily and affordably use 100% renewable electricity in Madison, Wisconsin, and many other cities, too.

Buy green power from Madison Gas & Electric (MG&E). Beginning in January 2008, this revamped program (mostly wind energy, some solar) is available and costs only a penny more per kWh; the average consumer will spend $6 per month extra for 100% renewable energy, less if you conserve. (They are tripling the size of their wind farm to accommodate anticipated demand; kudos to them for taking the lead on this!) 90% of Wisconsin utilities now offer the option of purchasing renewable energy (although the prices differ); see power.wisconsin.gov. If your utility doesn't offer anything like this, ask them why, and purchase carbon offsets through Native Energy or other similar programs instead. Either way, this requires no up-front costs, is pretty affordable, and is very simple to do.
But there are even less expensive options.
Rent solar from CitizenRE's REnU program. They'll install solar electric panels on your roof, and all you pay is a deposit. You'll pay CitizenRE instead of MG&E for your usage, and lock in at today's electricity rates for 1, 5, or 25 years (your choice). I don't have any personal experience with this new national company, so you might want to seek out opinions elsewhere. They'll install the first systems sometime in 2008.
Buy your own solar. This is the least expensive option in the long run, but has high up-front costs.
After you finish this short article, be sure to read my detailed article which explains how we decided that going solar made sense. The executive summary is this: in the worst case, it will pay for itself while the panels are still under warranty and we could easily save $37,000 dollars in electric bills over its lifetime. Beginning in January 2008, MG&E will buy your solar electricity for 25 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), almost double their current chargeout rate.
UW-Madison (my employer) also wrote an article about our solar, and took a cool photo.

People who purchase a hybrid car often do so to reduce their contribution to greenhouse gases and save money. But keeping your existing car and spending those dollars on renewable electricity actually makes more sense.

Why? Cars are certainly a big contributor to greenhouse gases, but for the average energy consumer, electricity is even bigger. And the difference to the environment between improving your mileage vs. eliminating your emissions from electricity is very large (check it out for yourself; read this, or use a carbon footprint calculator). As a bonus, buying your own solar will help your pocketbook more than driving a hybrid; you'll save more money with solar in the long run.

I'm happy to make (free) presentations to small or large groups in the Madison area. Are you associated with a group (work, neighborhood, church, or friends) that would be interested in this? Give me a jingle at 259-1812. I'm also curious what you think of all this.