Power Up with Green Power

I decided to put my money where my mouth is this weekend.  I signed up to buy green power through my local electric utility - Xcel Energy. 

It's a program called Windsource and now a percentage of the electricity that we use in our home will come from wind power instead of from burning dirty coal.  The energy that supplies Windsource is 100 percent wind energy generated or purchased from Minnesota wind farms.  You can sign up for a fixed number of Windsource blocks (100 kWh each) or choose the 100% Windsource option.  There is an small upcharge to switch to wind power but I only expect it to be a few bucks each month.

Why should you care about switching to green power?  Because it's good for our environment and our health.  Green power:

• reduces carbon dioxide in the environment
• helps prevent acid rain by reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions
• reduces mercury emissions (which means the fish we eat is safer)
• keeps the air we breathe cleaner by reducing small particulates and other bad emissions.

(facts and photo from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency)

Wondering if you can do this in your state?  Check out the green power network, provided by the US Dept. of Energy.  Just click on your state to get a listing of green power options near you!