Climate Action Day 6 – Know What Powers You and Your Home

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

In this new section of the book, we will start exploring specific actions you can take to make a difference, starting with the electricity in your house. Heidi presents this as a four part action framework that should guide you:

• What climate impacts stem from our daily activities?
• How can we contribute to climate action in our own communities?
• Where do we have influence to motivate systems-based change?
• What “wins” will motivate us to continue to act?

Presumably you can find your way to a light switch, wherever you are reading this. Go to it, and turn on a light. Now pause and reflect on the electricity that powers that light, and all the other lights, appliances, and equipment in your house. Where does it come from? Chances are pretty high that it comes from the burning of coal or natural gas. Renewable sources are becoming a bigger percentage of the production mix in many places, especially in the upper Midwest where there has been considerable investment in wind and solar, as well as nuclear. But the >100 year legacy is the burning of fossil fuels and it will take considerable investment and new technology to completely convert to carbon free sources – for Xcel Energy in Texas and New Mexico, 61% of the electricity comes from coal and natural gas.

I have solar panels on my roof. People think that my house is solar powered and might wonder what I do for electricity at night. [To be fair, I have not ever been asked that question]. My solar array is grid-tied. I draw from the electrical grid to power my house, and when my solar panels are producing electricity, it goes back out to the grid. If the local grid goes out, I lose power like everyone else.

This was a reasonable choice for me because my house is suitable for rooftop solar. If your house is not suitable (and most communities would not let you put a wind turbine up in your backyard), you have to be more creative to ensure that your utility is motivated to make renewable energy available to you.

The Bathtub Metaphor for the Electric Grid
“The New England power grid is like a very shallow bathtub with a huge drain that can’t be closed.“

So what can you do if you are concerned about tapping into renewable energy for your electricity needs? If you are an Xcel customer (and I am sure there are similar programs) you can sign up for community solar plans like the Solar*Rewards® Community. You subscribe to a nearby, third-party solar garden so that some portion of your electricity will then be definitely sourced from a renewable production.

The catch? “Must live in the same county as the solar garden or an adjacent county”. So if there are none near you, you are out of luck.

So where does that leave you? Keep taking action. If you actually commit to and execute this research project to find out where your electricity comes from, you are empowered with knowledge. You are starting to make decisions that may impact your local community: No community solar? Why not? Who do I see about that? The simple act of your inquiry becomes a signal to the utility that the community wants more renewable energy, which, if it comes from all us, may motivate larger, system-wide change across the region and the nation.

Most important for you is that this action, this win, may motivate more action in turn. “Now that’s one action with a big impact!”.

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Bonus: Check and see how Xcel Energy is doing on their claims that they are the first major U.S. energy provider to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all the ways our customers use energy, including electricity, heating and transportation. Greenwashing? You decide.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 7: Curb the Cost of Renewable Energy

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com