07.27.06
For those wishing to support renewables
One efficient way to support renewables if you are not able to source them directly is to buy renewable energy credits that go to supporting renewable projects.
At http://www.carbonfund.org/site/Â I used a calculator to calculate my family’s total CO2 footprint (from driving, home heating and lighting, and from flying) and found that I could buy sufficient RECs to neutralize that amount of CO2 for around $13 per month–so I set up an automatic monthly payment for $15 a month ($180/yr) and now don’t feel so bad about running the air conditioner when it’s hot and sticky here in the Midwest.Â
Oh, and it’s fully tax-deductible, so it’s costing me not much more than I was previously paying to my local municipal electric company to help them buy 250 kWh of electricity generated from landfill gas.