Woohoo, just switched to wind power

[mattsaccount]

Power in this area (Wisconsin) typically comes from coal. The local utility offered wind power for 2.6 cents more per KWH, so I switched. Now I can feel warm and fuzzy inside

Where does your power come from?

 

[Ika]

My power comes from the wall outlet.

 

[Manuwell]

From my pie-hole

 

[BrownTown]

You do realise your electricity still comes from coal plants, you are just paying more for it right?

 

[KLin]

My power comes from PG&E.

 

[BrownTown]

TVA, so thats like 65% coal, 20% Nuclear, 8% hydro, and 5% Gas, 2% other

 

[Dirigible]

Fromthepedalpoweredgeneratorundermydesk.IneedtotypefastbeforeIgettootired.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: mattsaccount
Power in this area (Wisconsin) typically comes from coal. The local utility offered wind power for 2.6 cents more per KWH, so I switched. Now I can feel warm and fuzzy inside

Where does your power come from?

So how much does that cost you a year?

 

[moshquerade]

SUCKA! :laugh:

they got you to pay more ya greenpeacenik

 

[mattsaccount]

According to my billing history, I use about 220KW-hours per month, so about $68.64. Usage is relatively constant because I rent and heat is included in the bill--heat which is, no doubt, produced by coal power

 

[oboeguy]

Haha you're subsidizing everyone else on the grid. Nice.



Seriously, though, how does this work? It's not like you're really getting electricity from the wind plant directly.

 

[Coolone]

i heat up my room with natural methane

 

[acemcmac]

I HAVE NUCLEAR!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!

I too use about 210-220kwh a month and about 9Ccf of natural gas a month. My combined bill is usually in the mid 50's...

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Haha you're subsidizing everyone else on the grid. Nice.



Seriously, though, how does this work? It's not like you're really getting electricity from the wind plant directly.

The way it works is that they build enough wind plants to meet the demand of everyone buying crerdits, so if enough people buy credits then they HAVE to build more wind farms or they break the contract and you can sue their asses. You are still getting power from the same place, but the utility has to produce wind power at or above the level they are selling or they are breaking the law. So basically you are paying money to them to encourage other utilities to build more wind since they thing they can charge a premium for it. In reality you are just giving them more money for nothing.

 

[everman]

I produce my own methane.

 

[mattsaccount]

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Seriously, though, how does this work? It's not like you're really getting electricity from the wind plant directly.

Probably just an accounting gimmick. Presumably, the money I pay goes toward the maintenance/operation of windmills as opposed to coal-fired plants. The actual power I use comes from the same grid everyone else uses.

 

[Eli]

How the fsck do you guys use ~200kWh/mo?

Do you have just your computer and one 60W bulb? lol

 

[BrownTown]

If you want an example of this actually getting somewhere here is one: So TVA was doing this too with landfill gas and solar, but more people bought into it than expected so they had to build a 29MW wind farm in order to keep up. So theres an example of a utility building a wind farm in order to meet their requirements, if more people want to pay the extra money then I'm sure they will build even more (so would any utility if they amount they charge extra is enough to make the wind pwoer economical). In fact in some areas wind power is already economical with the absurdly expensive power (read California), so if they charge you extra there they are just screwing you since its cheaper for them anyways.

 

[Feldenak]

Where does your power come from?

I don't particularly care.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Haha you're subsidizing everyone else on the grid. Nice.



Seriously, though, how does this work? It's not like you're really getting electricity from the wind plant directly.

Maybe the power company just shifts 0.0000001% of their resources from coal to wind...and writes "mattsaccount" in the Memo part of their accounting book

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
If you want an example of this actually getting somewhere here is one: So TVA was doing this too with landfill gas and solar, but more people bought into it than expected so they had to build a 29MW wind farm in order to keep up. So theres an example of a utility building a wind farm in order to meet their requirements, if more people want to pay the extra money then I'm sure they will build even more (so would any utility if they amount they charge extra is enough to make the wind pwoer economical). In fact in some areas wind power is already economical with the absurdly expensive power (read California), so if they charge you extra there they are just screwing you since its cheaper for them anyways.

If it were cheaper for him, why wouldn't they do it in the first place?

 

[Rubycon]

No. 6 Diesel generators.

Originally posted by: Eli
How the fsck do you guys use ~200kWh/mo?

Do you have just your computer and one 60W bulb? lol

I've heard about people like that. They pull the meter and put a bare hacksaw blade in one of the slots so power coming in only goes through one side of the meter. :laugh:

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Haha you're subsidizing everyone else on the grid. Nice.



Seriously, though, how does this work? It's not like you're really getting electricity from the wind plant directly.

Ratio of customers paying for each source determines the ratio in which the supply is purchased - unless demand exceeds the availability, in which case they'll buy it somewhere of their own choosing (probably the cheapest place available) and the balance from that savings is required to be invested in CREATING enough supply for that source.

Which means that if there are enough idiots like the OP, the world will eventually be covered in windmills, and we MIGHT have a power schedule similar to North Korea, if we're really lucky.

 

[JRich]

Nuke FTW!

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: MS Dawn
No. 6 Diesel generators.

Originally posted by: Eli
How the fsck do you guys use ~200kWh/mo?

Do you have just your computer and one 60W bulb? lol

I've heard about people like that. They pull the meter and put a bare hacksaw blade in one of the slots so power coming in only goes through one side of the meter. :laugh:

SHADDUP!!!! Don't tell everybody my secret!