Tuesday 2 December 2008

Green Power

My partner and I have been looking at buying all our electricity from green sources, eg, wind. We just had a quick look at the costs - it would cost us just under $1 per day extra on our electricity bills to go fully green. That's based on our consumption levels over the past twelve months. Given we have been working on reducing our consumption, it's likely to be cheaper.

I was wondering how much you would be prepared to pay for going fully green on your electricity? Please take the poll in the sidebar. It will be there for the next week.

love and light
naturewitch

6 comments:

Kelly said...

we have been on green energy for about 4 years. it has forced us to be even more diligent about being power nazis at home - we didnt have much fat to trim either (the kids are nearly fully trained now!) its a bit of a killer here in winter, (killer being relative), to us a 400 winter bill is a shock but it does lighten the guilt load. we have bitten the bullet for full 3 kw pv solar and stage one happenned today! id say go for it. be a leader!

naturewitch said...

Hi Kel

Yep - we've just looked at solar panels as well and done some calculations. The 3kW package is what we would need to meet (and slightly exceed) our current energy usage.

It seems that the price for us to buy green power is about the same as having panels installed (over the 25 year lifetime of the panels). Since we don't have the $$ up front and would have to pay interest, it's more economical to buy the 100% green power from our current energy supplier - well, at the moment.

So, at this stage we'll purchase the green power; however, we are open to reviewing this in the future as the cost of panels comes down (we hope:)).

Btw, our biggest electricity bill this year was $251, but we do have gas as well. I'd probably freak over a $400 bill ;) xx

Unknown said...

Just $1 more?! That's fab.

Unfortunately, we don't have gren power where we live. So we're going green-ish by using wood stoves, etc, etc.

Solar panels are extortionately priced, and I'm not so convinced about their production yet anyway.

This is one of my pet peeves, that green energy options cost us so much more.

Cheryl said...

Good topic as always naturewitch......I will vote......

flmom said...

We do not have the option to pay extra to purchase our electricity from green sources. Our electric provider does send us a sign up form every so often where we can put ourselves into a pool of people paying about $14.95 extra per bill to "help our electric provider use more green sources". This is a very sore spot with me. Our electric provider is pretty pitiful in many respects (my opinion) - this stems from my own personal experience having our electric restored (very slowly) after two hurricanes and their attitude of crybabying constantly and going before our state legislature to raise our rates (they cannot just raise rates, they have to obtain permission from the state and the state always grants it). We have had far too many rate increases in the 11 years we've lived here so while I fully support green energy I do not support having to pay money to "help" my electric provider move in that direction.

naturewitch said...

Hi Mon
Pity you don't have the option to buy green power. I agree - solar panels are hideously expensive. We're hoping they'll come down in price in the future. Bet you are too. Why should green cost more? xx

Hey Cheryl
Thanks for dropping by and for your vote - I'm really intrigued to see the results at the end of the week. xx

Hi flmom
How frustrating for you, having such an unreliable energy provider! That must make things interesting during a hot summer when a storm knowcks the power out.
Ideally, none of us should have to pay more for green power - in many respects you'd think it should be cheaper. But, we've decided to go the green option in the hope that it will push our provider further in that direction and that an increased demand for green energy will mean that eventually it is the energy source of choice and affordable for all. Here's hoping! xx