Courtesy of LADWP
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So you already upgraded all of your appliances to energy sipping versions and you even unplug them when not in use. Yet, you know that the energy you are using is more than likely coming from dirty sources. Not to fear, you can get green power now in southern California to help offset all the AC you feel guilty about using in the summer.
Southern California is a prime location for renewable energy, especially solar, and with the wide variety of financing options now, this is something certainly to consider if you live in Los Angeles. California produced only 69.5% of the electricity it used in 2007, the rest was imported from the northwest and desert southwest and installing solar and wind makes your home its own power plant. But, if you don't want to spring for expensive panels in these tight times, don't worry. Getting green energy can be done with the click of a mouse. Residents of the city of Los Angeles can sign up online to choose anywhere from 20-100% of their electricity come from renewable sources. For everyone else in the LA area not within the city, your options are not as easy.
Keep in mind that the energy you are purchasing will not be delivered directly to your house, but rather your utility company will invest the equivalent in developing renewable energy projects to expand where it gets energy. But, you can feel good about "investing" in more planet saving projects and know that you are one more vote for clean energy in the area. California now mandates that all investor-owned utilities source 20% of their power from green sources by 2010. So, even if you cannot add any more to your utility bill, your state has already chosen to push utility companies in a green direction.
LADWP Green Power for a Green LA Program The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which services 4 million people in the City of Los Angeles and some areas of Owens Valley is aggressively increasing its green power sourcing. In 2005, only 3% of its power supply came from green sources, in 2008, that number jumped to 8.5% and they are fully expecting to hit 20% green power by 2010. By 2020, 35% of LADWP electricity will come from green sources.
"Green Power for a Green LA" is the program that LADWP established to allow both residents and businesses to choose renewable energy. You won't get the renewable energy directly, but the utility will invest the equivalent in increasing their supply of renewable sources, such as wind, solar hydropower, geothermal energy, and biomass energy.
The price to you: 3 cents per kilowatt. But this premium is only put towards the percentage of renewable energy that you want put towards your bill. The minimum is 20% renewable, but you can choose to go as high as 100% renewable energy. For example, if you use 100 kilowatts for the month, then you would be charged 3 cents for 20 of those kilowatts on your utility bill. Unsure what this translates to: LADWP estimates that if you have a $50 monthly utility bill, then the green power would add an additional $3 onto your bill if you choose the 20% renewable option. Not such a bad price to know that you are helping to promote renewable energy in a mega-city that certainly has its environmental work cut out for it.
How Can You Get Green Power from LADWP?
Simply fill out the online form. One for residences and small businesses, another for medium and large commercial sites. When you sign up, you will be obligated to remain with the program for at least 12 months.
LADWP offers several rebate programs for energy efficiency and upgrading appliances. To make up the cost difference from choosing renewable energy, LADWP recommends that you keep energy efficiency in mind and apply for some of the rebates and upgrades to make up the difference.
Green Options for SCE Customers?
Residents in Los Angeles, outside of the city of LA, are probably customers of Southern California Edison (SCE). Your options for green energy from your utility are shall we say "fewer." While SCE gets 16 percent of its power (or 13 billion kilowatt hours) from renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and small hydro, there is no program for customers to put their money directly towards renewable sources. SCE is currently increasing its percentage of renewable energy supplied by building a wind farm in Tehachapi that will provide 4,500 megawatts of electricity from wind and other sources. So while you can't choose to invest in green energy, your utility is actively increasing its use of renewable energy, so don't feel so bad.
SCE SmartConnect Program
Residents outside the city of Los Angeles can look for smart meters to replace their current utility meter beginning in 2009 through 2012—roughly 5 million will be installed during this period. What makes the meters "smart"? Well, they have a two-way communication system allowing the meters to communicate with the utility and vice versa to allow customers can monitor their energy use online and the utility can better identify and respond to outages. This also means that customers can elect to use "time of use metering" meaning if they monitor their energy use and power up appliances during off-peak period times, i.e. cheaper pricing periods, homeowners can save money. The meters will allow overall consumption during peak periods to drop by 1,000 megawatts, the equivalent of one power plant.
One Final Note
For California customers curious about purchasing green energy, the Department of Energy publishes a list of green power options for each utility. Remember, again that your utility will invest the equivalent of whatever you put in the program towards increasing its renewable energy sources, but you won't see a difference in the electricity delivered to your home.
Get alternative energy in other cities:
How-To: Get Renewable Energy in Chicago
How-To: Get Renewable Energy in Seattle
How-To: Get Renewable Energy in New York
How-To: Get Renewable Energy in Toronto
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