illuminating science

In light of some of the (really!) scary global warming predictions we’ve been hearing recently, we’ve decided to join a program our local energy company (EnergexGreen Energy. Basically, by paying an excess per month, they agree to buy a certain amount of power from green energy sources. At the moment, we’re actually buying more energy than we actually use, but it’s for a good cause and hopefully it helps send that message that we’re willing to pay a little bit more for a sustainable planet.

The program can actually be quite cheap - just $10 more a quarter buys you at least 330 kWh, which for the average household is (apparently) about 20% of their power usage. For us, that would be about half our usage, but as I said we now buy more green power than we use - yep, we’re buying someone else’s green power.

It might seem odious paying extra for power when you don’t have to, and I was a bit hesitant when Jen first suggested it, but in reality that’s pretty cheap - if I bought only the power I actually use as green power, my bill would still only be an extra $20, or about 20% of our current total, a quarter, and that really isn’t very much. Heck, $80 a year is nothing…

So, I’m giving it my official (fwiw) endorsement. Go on the Green Energy program. Even if it’s just $10 a quarter - only $40 a year! - that sends the message that we are committed, and will encourage the production of more green energy powerplants. I’m always skeptical of these sort of programs - often they only make a difference if everyone participates. But this provides a direct, guaranteed reduction in green house gas emission and fossil fuel use, and I think it might be one of the few ways to make a large scale change. Just imagine if everyone joined! (I’m not quite certain of the scalability issues here, but it would be interesting!)

If you’re not in Queensland, then your energy company might have a similar program. Look it up. Nag your friends, parents, enemies, etc. But you better move quick. We’re running out of time.