Where does your energy come from?

Or maybe I should rephrase the title to say - do you know what kind of energy you're paying for? I DO! I'm proud to say that for the last 6 years I have been a customer of Green Mountain Energy, where the energy I (now we) purchase comes from wind energy sources. I wish I could say that the energy our house uses comes directly from the wind source, but that's not how it works. The clean energy we purchase is added to our region's power grid, displacing the equivalent amount of power coming from more polluting and nonrenewable sources like oil, natural gas, and coal.

My bill from Green Mountain Energy is one bill that I actually READ. Though it can be painful to read in the summer (when it's more expensive because of running the air conditioning more often), every month it tells me how much CO2 emissions (pollution) we've offset by choosing clean energy. My household's totals for the past 6 years are :

• Pounds of CO2 avoided = 80,270
• Trees planted = 5,460
• Miles not driven = 86,414

How incredible is that?! I have to say it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that in some small way, I have made a difference. Green Mountain used to only be available to a handful of states, but I just checked so that I could list them here, and now they are available nation wide! To read more about Green Mountain Energy's commitment to the environment, and how they are walking the talk click here.

Another great source of information is the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Green Power Network. Check it out!