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CLEANER
ENERGY FOR TEXANS
Green Mountain Energy Company, the largest retailer of cleaner and renewable energy, now offers Texas customers electric service generated from 100-percent non-polluting wind power.
The Austin, Texas-based company already provides residential customers in Connecticut, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey with electricity.
Green Mountain Energy's clean and renewable electricity will be generated exclusively by wind farms located within Texas, and is dramatically cleaner than energy produced from non-renewable sources like coal and lignite and doesn't pose the risks associated with nuclear power.
“We are excited about offering Texans a simple way to purchase clean electricity and help support cleaner air,” said Gillan Taddune, vice president, general manager for Green Mountain Energy Company. “As Texans flip the switch on their lights, we hope they will consider that making electricity causes more air pollution than any other industry in the US. By choosing Green Mountain Energy, made from 100-percent Texas wind power, Texans can join us in our mission to help change the way power is made.”
Taddune said Green Mountain has received a tremendous number of calls the from people wanting to sign up for service.
Currently, much of the power used by Texans comes from polluting coal-fired plants, as well as nuclear sources that lead to radioactive nuclear waste. The 100-percent wind power offering from Green Mountain Energy will not emit any of these pollutants or byproducts, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxide (NOX)
and sulfur dioxide (SO2), which contribute to global warming, smog and acid
rain.
For more information, call 1-866-GREEN TX.Or check out
www.greenmountain.com
Andy Summa is a freelance writer in Sugar Land, Texas.
RENAISSANCE
FOR SOLAR POWER
By Andy Summa
Recent power woes have turned the lights out across California, but they’ve
turned on millions to the idea of renewable energy such as solar and wind
power.
Renewable power suppliers such as Renewable Energy Concepts and
Sunelco have
been deluged with consumers seeking refuge from the volatile coal- and
oil-driven energy crisis.
A lot of the increased business has been from California, but companies have
been getting calls from around the country, said Nick Mariana, sales
technician for Hamilton, Montana-based Sunelco.
"We’ve seen a big increase in sales since February," Mariana said. "What’s
funny is that during Y2K, people were buying (renewable) energy sources
because they were scared. Now, they’re buying it because they’re mad.
They’re sick of paying these big companies for power that may or may not be
there."
But it’s not just individual consumers who are looking into other power
sources. Oil companies, which have been quietly swallowing renewable energy
companies over the last ten years, have shown renewed interest in alternative
power. Oil major BP Amoco recently launched the world’s biggest solar power
project in the world (valued at $48 million), to bring electricity to 150
isolated village in the Philippines.
In California, San Francisco voters have approved a proposal
that will spend more than $120 million to install solar panels on 700 public
buildings.
Even in Texas, the oil capital of the United States, new high-tech wind
turbines are springing up. New turbines in West Texas with a capacity of 800
megawatts could serve more than 200,000 Texas households .
But some critics wonder how long interest in renewable energy can last. If
oil prices go down to levels comparable to last year, many think interest in
solar-, wind- and hydro-power will wane.
Mariana disagrees.
"This (energy problem) isn’t going anywhere," he said. "It’s clean and it’s
reliable. This is something people are interested in."
Andy Summa is a freelance writer in Sugar Land, Texas.
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