September Deal!

You already know that “going green” is important, and that the Co-op is a great way to get started. But we thought we’d make Membership even sweeter for you!

If you register for an Individual Membership in the Co-op before the end of September, you’ll receive a free 100W CFL bulb and a $20 gift card to Amicus Green Building Center! Don’t wait- register now!

I’ve Got the Power!

by Miranda Hitchcock

Electricity is everywhere. We use it to watch TV and keep our food cold, and to charge our cell phones and laptops. Electricity keeps our traffic lights working and powers our hospitals. Never do all of these uses become more apparent than when the electricity suddenly disappears. For many Maryland residents, this is what happened for days last month when a series of storms blew through the area. Pepco customers, in particular, were unhappy with the reliability of their electric transmission and even held public hearings to voice their concerns.

These reliability problems are not new, and they are certainly not specific to Pepco. Unfortunately, much of our nation’s electric grid is outdated, built upon infrastructure that has begun to falter under our ever-growing population and energy needs. The Obama administration has pledged billions of dollars to modernize the grid, but like all enormous systems, this takes time.

When I first saw the news about the Pepco hearings, I thought, “This is a perfect time to get people thinking about their energy options- like our Supplier, Electric Advisors.” So I posted a tweet, “MD is tired of Pepco’s unreliability. http://dlvr.it/4TPwW (from @BethesdaNews) It’s time to get clean wind energy from Electric Advisors!” 10:56PM, August 30^th. At the time, I did not realize how confusing this might be- until I got a concerned message from a reader. She said, “I’m concerned that this tweet could mislead someone about how purchasing ‘green power’ actually works;” and she was absolutely right! Choosing to invest in clean, mid-Atlantic wind energy with Electric Advisors does NOT mean leaving Pepco’s distribution system.

The point that I was hoping to make (and it’s hard in 140 characters!) is that our electric infrastructure is out of date, and that even if you take freak storms out of the mix, our current infrastructure has been degrading over time significantly. This is also true for the behemoth coal plants that make most of our energy. Switching to Electric Advisors or another clean option sends a message to the industry that people are interested in new, more efficient and clean sources of energy- which will hopefully lead to a more significant switch from coal to renewables and a MUCH needed overhaul of our energy infrastructure. So I didn’t intend to say “move from Pepco to wind” but rather, “aren’t you sick of the way things are now? Change what you CAN now, and push the industry to make moves.”

But our reader was absolutely right that this could be confusing, particularly when most of us aren’t quite sure of how purchasing clean energy really works. Because our organization aims to provide education as well as discounts, I thought this would be a perfect time to talk about Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and how they work with our system! To get an expert point of view, I emailed Eric Coffman at the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, who provided a link for an excellent description of the system.

The basic idea: Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) represent a certain amount of energy being produced from clean, renewable sources like wind. Most utility companies are now offering a choice to their consumers about where their energy should come from, using these RECs as a trading method. Someone using Pepco, for example, can choose from a list of clean energy brokers who connect you to the actual suppliers or generators. (The Co-op’s choice is Electric Advisors!) You don’t actually purchase the energy itself from Pepco, but rather from one of these competitive energy suppliers. Pepco still distributes the energy to you, but you pay your chosen company (a broker, who pays the supplier) for electricity. It is important to note that the electricity from many sources (the one you chose, the one your neighbors chose, and the ones Pepco has as a default) gets combined and sent down the wires. So even if you sign up for 100% wind energy, the electricity entering your home is still a mix. You’ve simply purchased a “clean energy equivalent” to your share of consumption. So don’t worry that if the wind stops blowing, you won’t get power! You will still get service from the grid. This also applies if Pepco’s service goes out- your power will go out when everyone else’s does, even if you’ve bought wind. This is a very simplified description that may not fully explain the system, so if you have questions or comments, please shoot us an email or contact the environmental/energy authority in your area.

In Pepco’s words:

“The restructuring of the electric utility industry allows you to select the electricity supplier that best fits your needs. If you don’t choose a supplier, Pepco buys electricity for you and charges you according to rates approved by your state Public Service Commission. This is called “Standard Offer Service” (SOS), and appears under “Supply Charges” in the Electric Charges portion of your bill. Customer bills are broken down to indicate charges for supply , the actual electricity, and delivery, the process of getting that electricity to end users. Pepco continues to deliver the electricity to all customers, no matter who they choose as their supplier. For many years, Pepco was the sole electricity supplier in suburban Maryland and Washington, D.C. We generated electricity and delivered it to you at rates set by regulatory commissions. In 2000, Pepco’s electricity market changed. We no longer generate our own electric power, and competing electricity suppliers are allowed to market their electric supply to Maryland customers.”

We chose Electric Advisors as our Supplier of clean energy for several reasons. First, they have a commitment to this community and a drive to support it. Second, they are truly local. While many clean energy sources will gladly sell you wind, much of it comes from Texas and other areas halfway across the country. Electric Advisors, on the other hand, supplies wind energy from right here in the mid-Atlantic region.

For more information, you can also check out cleanpowermarkets.com or other green energy websites. For more detailed information, go to the EPA Green Power Partnership website and download the Renewable Energy Certificates PDF. As always, please feel free to contact us with any comments or questions!

Miranda Hitchcock is the Implementation Manager at the Maryland Energy & Sustainability Co-op.

Reflections from an intern

by Claire Lafave

After a Friday night out at college this spring, I lay down in my bed to get some much-needed rest, and was suddenly seized with a burst of anxiety: “what am I going to do this summer?!”  After half an hour of trying to calm my nerves, I gave up, turned on the light, and got out my laptop. A sophomore English major, I was at a bit of a loss as to what kind of an organization would find my super useful skills appealing this summer. But I knew I wanted to be in DC with my friends and family, do some kind of writing, and do some kind of good. What about working within the local green movement?

I have always valued sustainability and conservation, but have been consistently frustrated by the lack of effective action I found within eco-aware student organizations. But after reading Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded, my interest in environmentalism was revitalized, and I became curious about how professional green organizations achieve tangible results. Through the wonders of google, I happened upon the list of organizations present at the Fields of Green internship fair at Bethesda Green. Mike’s Co-op caught me. Though his website was in need of renovation (which has been so beautifully achieved this summer by Julia, another Co-op intern), the value behind the organization was obvious. It just made sense to me: you pay money to join, and then you get your money back and more in discounts on sustainable products that will in turn, save you more money. I really liked Mike’s emphasis on localization, community development, and democratic involvement. So at 5am on Saturday morning, I wrote my cover letter. I sent it to Mike, and fell asleep with my nerves calmed.

I woke up at 11, and immediately got a phone call from an unknown number. “Hi Claire, this is Mike Kennedy. I was so impressed you were up at 7 on a Saturday morning that I had to call you right away.” I rolled with it and tried not to sound too sleepy.  Completely coincidentally, Mike had chosen that day to go through his pile of resumes to call back potential interns. Mike and I talked for a long time about his Co-op, about the cooperative movement in general, about vegetarianism and local food, about global sustainable development. It was a great conversation and at the end he hired me to work part-time on marketing, publicity, and grant writing for the Co-op this summer. I was ecstatic.

Working with Mike and the other interns has been educational, fun, and at times hilarious. I created outreach materials, wrote articles for interested organizations’ newsletters, and even wrote a grant. We work out of Bethesda Green, taking over the incubator area with music, laptops, food, cords, and ideas. Mike has always been kind, appreciative, and informative. Constantly cracking ridiculous jokes, Mike makes the workplace a very relaxed environment. He also makes sure to check in with each of us regularly to make sure we are all working on projects in which we’re interested.

I really believe in the Co-op’s mission to make environmental sustainability something easy, affordable, and fulfilling for everyone. Working here has made me think about what makes green products stand out, what makes environmentalism attractive, and what makes communities thrive. I have come to believe that the most effective way to reduce our carbon footprint is through local community action that adheres to a holistic attitude toward sustainability, reaching issues ranging from the environment to the economy.  But how to develop and move forward while sustaining our natural and human resources is a multi-faceted issue with multi-faceted solutions. I believe in the benefits of the cooperative model, but I also hope to learn about other models. After a strange and lucky series of events bringing me here, this internship has convinced me that I want to continue studying and helping to implement sustainable community initiatives throughout my life.

Claire Lafave is a marketing intern with the Maryland Energy & Sustainability Co-op