The Green Power Blog

 

Golden State Warriors have installed solar panels to power the team's practice facility. The solar panels would produce about 26% of the facility's annual electricity requirements. It is said that the facility will save $2 Million over the next 25 years. Perhaps it is assumed that the cost electricity will rise year over year because the annual savings are said to be just $36,000. More info can be found at Cooler Planet.

 

I don't think the $36,000 of annual savings take into account the actual cost of the solar system and its installation because the payback on solar systems are at the very least 5-10 years or more.

 

What else can a business/corporation/building do to reduce the impact of its electricity usage? Watch the video of US Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership Video or visit their website. Greening one's electricity can have far reaching consequences - more so than recycling. 

 

There are three ways for a facility to run on green power:

 

a) Install an on-site system like the Golden State Warrirors. This is an excellent option if you can afford it. However, on-site solar and wind installations can be very expensive and can only generate a percentage of the electricity needed for a facility. 

 

b)  Sign-up for a green power program being offered by a local utility company. Such programs are cheaper than installing an on-site system.

c) Purchase Renewable Energy Credits from an independent certified provider. Electricity is like a tub of water with dirty water (dirty electricity) and clean water (clean electricity) flowing in from each end and the mixture of the two flowing out the other. This makes it impossible for the purchaser of clean water (clean electricity or green power) to consume just the clean water (clean or green electrons). Therefore, it is sufficient if the clean water (clean or green electrons) is injected on your behalf. Renewable Energy Credits are proof that 1 Mega-Watt of electricity was injected into the electric grid on behalf of the purchaser. Plus going through an independent provider can be even cheaper than a local electric utility (Shameless promotion alert). Want to find out how much the cost of green power through renewable energy credits? Contact us today.