apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

This doesn't really answer your question but we have lots of these wind farms in Europe and 'not in my back yard' seems to be what people feel. Maybe out at sea would be fine but having them on a hill within sight of your home can cause depression and makes houses difficult to sell.

I signed up for it, and I don't seem to notice much of a difference in my bill. There are two options though. One with a yearly fixed price per kwh and another with a variable rate. i chose the former not knowing how much the rate would fluctuate. They make it quite easy to switch, and then you are exempt of some of the energy taxes.

I signed up for a green energy program through my power company in CT. I supposedly get 50% of my energy from wind and 50% from hydro. My bill increased about $7 or $8 a month on a base of about $60.

I am researching the idea of signing up for it. I look at it more as a voluntary payment to support alternative energy because the chances of actually receiving that energy are pretty slim. I guess it depends on if you actually happen to live in the small percentage of areas that are served by these energy sources.

Just wanted to point out that the paper is the Indypendent and it's great. (It's independent as well, but that's not the name...)

In addition to my previous post:

A friend sent this to me. It's pretty helpful to see:

http://www.newwindenergy.com/windfarm_map.html

You folks are killing innocent birdies with your wind turbines. For shame.

The impact on bird mortality is quite low when put into the perspective of other causes of avian mortality. In other words birds run into things all the time and kill themselves. No more so with wind turbines.

YES! We switched to wind power 5 months ago, and our bill went up about $20/month, for our whole home (1400 sq ft). A more efficient apartment wouldn't go up as much. I can't express how happy we are with the switch, we don't feel so guilty about indulging in extra electricity occasionally. overall, the increase in our electricity bill is offset by feeling positive about our energy use, rather than guilty or negative.

Check out renewable choice, they have a program that you can join per month to pay energy credits equal to the amount of electricity currently used in your home.

Individuals are only $5/mo and families are only $15/mo, if you live in an area with a Whole Foods market, they give you a gift card to the store when you join.

www.renewablechoice.com

It's the Innu, not Inuit (they aren't related).

The Canadian governments have negotiated a treaty with the Cree that provides compensation for the hydro project. It hasn't gone to a referendum yet, but if it passes the project is going ahead whether NY is a customer or not (unlike previous northern Quebec hydro projects).

Wind farms can't scale to the size of providing all NY's power, so what you're really choosing between is hydro or nuclear. Hydro's not the absolute greenest option, so how do you feel about wind nuclear?

I switched to wind power about 6 months ago, and I think the cost is around the same. I say I think because our electic bill has actually dropped by 50% from being a little more conscious about whats plugged in. Around the same time we went round and looked at all the things pulling power in the house....we only watch 5-6 hours tv per week, and we now plug out the tv/Dvd/stereo set up when its not on. Same for the microwave, washer dryer and A/C when we are not home...my June bill was a laughable $25 for a 2 bedroom!! Compare that to last Junes $80 or so....its a nice saving!!

Hi everybody. I work for a wholesale electricity supplier, and I just wanted to educate consumers about the realities of buying "wind' power or hydro power or plain old LNG, coal, nuclear, garbage, whatever power. The reality is while you are paying a premium for "wind" or any type of renewable power, you are not actually getting wind power. Electricity is electricity. It's allo the same Whether you have contract with a 3rd party supplier for regular electricity, or "green" electricity, you'll be getting the same electricity, and there is no way to guarantee that you are actually getting "green" energy. The truth is your local utility is still delivering the same electricity is always has been. It's just that you're paying a premium for it. My mom signed up for wind power through FPL for an extra $7 a month because it seemed like a good thing to do. It's the biggest scam going. Now she pays more for the exact same electricity.