Green Power

read this today in the local rag. another example of the "green" power that exists in this area which i think accounts for the high number of hybrids, mostly Priuses, in this area.

from The Olympian:

<h1 class="head1">Olympia utility costs rise a bit</h1>
Venice Buhain, The Olympian OLYMPIA - Olympia homes and businesses will pay about $1 a year more for utilities next year so the city can use all "green" electricity to power the water system.

 
The City Council on Tuesday unanimously supported purchasing energy generated from resources such as wind and solar cells for city water facilities, such as drinking water pumping stations. Mayor Mark Foutch was absent.

Such facilities consume 6.6 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year, or more than half of the city's electricity consumption, Rich Hoey, director of water resources, told the council Tuesday night.

The electricity would be purchased through Puget Sound Energy's Green Power program, which allows businesses and homes to purchase renewable energy. The contract would last two years, Hoey said.

Using green electricity will add about $66,120 a year to the city's power bill for the wastewater, storm water and drinking water systems, Hoey said. Because of cost-cutting throughout the year, the city can cover about $40,000.

But ratepayers will have to make up the $26,000 difference through a rate increase of about 0.3 percent, he said.

City staff already had been planning to propose raising rates next year to pay for system upgrades unrelated to the green power purchase, Hoey said. Revenue must rise 7.9 percent for the system upgrades, though the proposed new rates for each type of ratepayer have not been decided, Hoey said.

Council members said the change was an opportunity to pollute less.

"It is trying to go beyond paying the 'fair share,' " Councilman Joe Hyer said. "Any rate increase is minuscule."

Olympia already has the largest number of purchasers of Green Power in Puget Sound Energy's area, Hoey said. Almost 16,000 homes and apartments and about 370 businesses purchase renewable energy from the utility, he said.

The Evergreen State College purchases 100 percent of its energy from green resources.

"We have a signal from this community that we are willing to pay these costs," Councilwoman Karen Messmer said.

City Council members also asked the staff to plan to purchase green power for Olympia's future City Hall as well as investigate a city of Bellingham program encouraging use of renewable power.



they did mention a 1% increase in cost, but i think that is more than reasonable considering the benefits. 16,000 homes and apartments, not sure what percentage that is. depends on what they consider to be Olympia in this article, but the greater Olympia area has about 61,000 households with the city proper having about 34,000 so i think its the latter figure. i live in an apartment complex where i do not pay electric so i am no longer a part of the green program. we are in an old hosipital that has its own high efficiency generator (although i think we still get some power from the ultilities) but as you can see, this program will reduce the city's demand on the power grid by half. a HUGE contribution and makes me proud to live here