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Green Power Switch - a dumb idea?
Posted By katie allison granju
Tonight’s First Friday festivities in Downtown Knoxville will offer a big push to promote TVA’s Green Power Switch program, and get people signed up.
But increasingly, folks are asking whether signing up for these Green Power programs through local utilities is actually helping achieve the goal of increasing use of environmentally friendly energy sources:
a friend at breakfast the other day opined that GPS was a really stupid idea. this is a guy who studies environmentally-friendly power and other environmental issues for a living.
his reasoning was that by charging extra, they are in effect economically punishing people who are doing the right thing.
by charging lower rates for those who use coal-generated power, they are rewarding bad behavior.
he suggested that at the very least the rates should be the same. and that if you want more good behavior, you reward it by charging less, you don’t punish it by charging more.
a perusal of the US DOE’s website The Green Power Network shows that out of the entire long list offering green energy pricing in the US, only 3 small utilities reward users for using green power by charging them less.
does anyone know of an intelligent rationale for charging more instead of less?
May 2nd, 2008
Katie,
I agree completely with you and the poster on Knox Blab on this issue. I realize it’s TVA’s policy, and not KUB’s, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bad one. It reminds me of the way land trusts handle conservation easements. In order for most property owners to grant a conservation easement (CE), they have to not only agree to the restrictions that the easement places on their property , but they are also forced to put up major cash to support the organization that holds the easement. I have personal knowledge of this problem with CEs because we put a CE on some family owned mountain property in North Carolina. It’s no small wonder there aren’t more CEs in place with that kind of punitive approach. Whether it’s CEs or green power, if we want to see widespread implementation, we will have to figure out how to put workable policies in place.
Maybe it’s the martyr thing…people like to feel superior and their “sacrifice” makes them feel like they’re doing more than the average person. They are saving the planet by paying more so they feel more important.
Just a thought.