The news, finally reporting on things news-worthy, just released a press that Governor Charlie Christ has launched a plan to build a solar power plant in – guess where? – Florida!
I am so ecstatic! Even though the company that is building the power plant (Florida Power & Light), it is a start!
Glad to see this blog is making a difference, lol!
Stay Green Orlando
Today’s blog was aimed at informing you, in the simplest way possible, about Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) in all it’s splendor; where it began, about how much it cost, and how you, along with me, could purchase this amazing product.
So, the search began. I went to Google, searched for “Renewable Energy Certificate”, and millions of websites popped up. I was excited and relieved, (I remember a big sigh of relief being blown from my mouth). I went to the first site and began reading. Lots of information; nice pictures. But after navigating from the web page, I found that I left with the same amount of information that I had known before going to the site. The information was there but it was hard to understand. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a very literate person and my grasp of understanding is just as good as yours, but after reading that site, I felt a little… malnourished. I went to different sites and, site after site, the same thing.
So, to provide us with the information needed, in its most simplest terms, I am going to call a company tomorrow and have them spell it out. Plain and simple. My main question is, when purchasing RECs, am I purchasing electricity from the company? Most sites gave me the impression that what I was actually purchasing was a donation to that company, helping them keep their current rate for providing alternative energy to their customers that are able to receive alternative energy low, therefore, for me, the consumer, helping me achieve carbon neutrality. For people, like me, who do not have alternative energy options, this is a great option and it makes me feel as though I am helping out the environment that much more (though I would love to get my bill every month, knowing that I am not using electricity from one of the most earth-killing monsters EVER!).
So, until tomorrow. Set your alarms to check the blog around 3 P.M. EST (I get up pretty early, but, you know what they say, “Never call a home or business before 11 a.m.”).
Stay Green Orlando.
P.S. Shameless plug: How I Met Your Mother in seven days!!!!!
Ever since I started this blog (about a week ago) I feel like it is my responsibility to find information concerning the environment and make it readily available to you, the reader. I feel like, if I go a day without posting something (which I have) I have somehow let you down.
Well, with this onus, I decided to find out information on why one of Orlando’s energy providers, Progress Energy, doesn’t provide energy alternatives. In Florida, only electric companies in Tallahassee and Gainesville offer alternative energy. What’s even more disturbing is that offering of alternative energy isn’t anything new. Both had their alternative energy options prior to 2005.
So I went on a search. I wanted to know what I would have to do to petition to have alternative energy options in Orlando. Being the college student I am, I went to one of the most reputable sources in Orlando – Livejournal. I made a post on the Orlando Livejournal community about my query and was met with some helpful suggestions. But there was one that stuck out above the crowd. One person provided me with four links as a rebuttal, believing that what lye in those articles were proof that Progress Energy was making strides in the fight for Alternative Energy. All I found were meager attempts to silence critics who know Progress Energy’s real goals for obtaining alternative energy – nothing.
Why is it so hard to provide alternative energy options to people that actually want it?
Why is it so hard to make a decision that positively affects the environment, President Robert B. McGehee?
Please, inform me of what I have to do to get this ball rolling. We need alternative energy in Orlando.
Stay Green Orlando
Being environmentally friendly is one of the easiest things to begin. If you follow these detailed steps that I am about to outline, you, too, could become the Grandmaster of Environmental Friendliness (GEF)
Step One to becoming a GEF is to take an assessment of everything around you that could possibly harm the environment. For instance, how much gas you use a week, how many grocery bags you use, do you use so much electricity that one would think you, yourself, were powering a small city. Take this assessment, write all your findings down (the information about electricity you could get from a monthly bill) and figure out how to make the numbers smaller. Here are a few tips:
Gas: Walk or ride a bike. I live in Florida so I understand that walking at noon in the midday really is unbearable sometimes, so plan around it. I live near a grocery store, so once or twice a week, just before sunset with my tote bags in hand, I walk to the grocery store. It’s convenient and it’s a bit of exercise. Kids running around the house restless? Take them for a walk and gets some shopping done. Just broke up with your boyfriend/girlfriend and need a pint of Blue Bell Butter Pecan Ice Cream to brain freeze all your sorrow away? Call them on the phone while walking, tell them how you feel, and walk in the store knowing you’ve saved the environment, if not your dignity also.
For those who simply can’t walk that Roman mile to the store, it’s okay to drive there – just make sure you plan it around a time when other driving is necessary (dropping the children off, coming home from work, after a drive-by).
Grocery Bag: WOW! This is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I know it may sound a little crazy but plastic bags are killing the world. The average plastic bag takes 500 years to decompose! That is way too long to for anything to decompose. So help the environment out and get a hold of a tote bag. The average tote bag replaces two to three plastic bags. The kicker is that you can you use them over and over and over again. This one small change helps the environment every time you shop. How can you beat that.
Lastly, electricity. Unless you are “off the grid” (not using electricity that comes from a power plant) you are hurting the environment (don’t worry, I am “on the grid” too). Plain and simple. The places that provide you with electricity generates the electricity from nuclear power plants, which release more carbon dioxide than we could imagine. But, wait, there is help. Electric companies are catching the Green fever and providing what is being called Energy alternatives, and they are great! One very cool energy alternative is wind powered energy. Very easy to decipher how it works, wind powered energy is a great way to defer your contribution to the depletion of the environment to something that uses nature as a means of energy production. Please call your local electric company to see if they offer energy alternatives.
Next time we will talk about Sun Lamps.
Until next time
Stay Green Orlando
