By Jennifer Langston
Herald Writer
Julie Court works for an Arlington company that manufactures parts that convert solar energy into a current your toaster can use.
She believes it’s important for the country to use more renewable power, so she welcomes the chance to pay an extra $3 a month on her electricity bill at home to buy environmentally friendly energy.
In January, the Snohomish Public Utility District will launch a program allowing customers to pay a surcharge to buy "green" energy that doesn’t pollute or kill fish.
Proceeds from the power sales go to a nonprofit foundation that has funded renewable-energy and stream-restoration projects, including one along North Creek in Everett’s McCollum Park.
"It makes sense for my family," Court said. "You look at our energy future, and it’s obvious we need to go in that direction."
PUD customers will be able to buy the green power in $3 blocks, which would be added to their normal rates each month. Each block represents 150-kilowatt hours of power, or about 15 percent of what an average customer uses in a month.
The surcharge covers the PUD’s costs of purchasing energy that will come from wind farms in Washington and Oregon.
Customers can sign up for just one block — or several —depending on how much of their electricity use they want to replace with wind power. It would cost an average customer about $20 more each month to go all green.
Launching the program in the middle of winter when people are already struggling with the PUD’s two rate increases this year isn’t the ideal time to ask people to pay more for electricity, officials said.
But the state Legislature this year required utilities to offer their customers a voluntary program to buy green power by January.
Dustin Parsley, an 18-year-old with a new baby at home, said he likes the idea of buying renewable power but said his power bill’s already too high. He can’t afford another $3, which will buy six jars of baby food.
"It would be a lot better for the environment," he said. "But how many people are going to be able to afford that $3?"
Typically, about 1 percent of a utility’s customers are willing to pay more for green power. Wildly successful programs may get up to 5 percent to participate, officials said.
Craig Smith, director of strategic planning and policy governance for the PUD, said customers interested in purchasing green power wanted the program to be simple and relatively low-cost. They also wanted to be certain their extra money isn’t wasted.
That’s why the PUD chose to buy power from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a nonprofit agency that’s been endorsed by prominent environmental and clean energy groups.
"Folks who are willing to pay a premium for green power want it to be very green, not light green or maybe green," said Angus Duncan, the foundation’s president. "They want to be sure their money will make a difference, not just disappear."
The foundation uses its profits from buying and selling energy to fund more renewable energy research into solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydropower projects that have few impacts on fish.
It also funds watershed restoration projects, including one grant that went to the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation’s Northwest Stream Center in Everett. That money helped replant native shrubs and trees along a stretch of North Creek to improve fish habitat.
The foundation also struck a deal this year with Xantrex, a company that manufacturers solar power components, to replace all the electricity its Arlington plant uses with green power.
"We just thought it was a great opportunity to reinvest in renewable energy," said Court, a media manager at Xantrex. "As a business, it was a good decision to make." Like Xantrex, the PUD is buying "green tags" from the Bonneville foundation. The power flowing into your home won’t come directly from the wind farms, officials said. That would require a direct pipeline.
Instead the PUD will purchase wind power that feeds into the larger electricity pool that everybody draws from. That reduces the amount of power that’s needed from more polluting fossil-fuel plants.
"This delivers what people really want, which is not green electrons in their toaster but environmental gain," Duncan said. "You are buying an environmental gain for everyone."
You can call Herald Writer Jennifer Langston at 425-339-3452 or send e-mail to langston@heraldnet.com.
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