Green energy options growing for Valley residents

McALLEN - Helping the environment had been on Penelope Adair's mind for a while.

But what could an ordinary citizen in South Texas do with the little spare time she had?

The answer came to Adair during a grocery trip when someone handed her a pamphlet for Green Mountain Energy, one of the myriad of companies offering environmentally friendly power to local residents.

"I guess, like many people, I think about the environment," said Adair, an associate history and philosophy professor at the University of Texas - Pan American. "But I don't do much, especially when it's more work."

Now Adair's electric provider, Green Mountain is part of a growing group of companies offering renewable energy to customers in South Texas.

For example, in central McAllen, residential users choose from 17 green energy providers, from large companies like Reliant, to smaller outfits such as like Amigo Energy.

Options vary across the Valley.

Weslaco residents have 18 options.

Green energy is any kind of electricity that has a minimal impact on the environment, as opposed to "dirty energies" like coal, nuclear and natural gas. Retail electric providers contract with wind farms, hydroelectric dams and solar farms to buy energy with a smaller "footprint" on the environment.

About 5 percent of all electricity produced in the state now comes from green energy sources, said Ken Starcher, director of the Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University. Most of that comes from wind farms in West Texas.

"If you're the consumer, you are getting the advantage of the green without any sacrifice to your service," Starcher said.

But a renewable energy plan doesn't mean wind power is pumped into a customer's home.

When a consumer enrolls, his or her electric provider buys wind, solar and water power from suppliers across the state. That energy is then fed into Texas' electric grid, which supplies power to all homes in its boundaries.

Still, signing up for the plan still means there is a higher demand for green energy and the net environmental impact is reduced, Starcher said.

"The power going into your house may not be green, but you're still helping the environment," Starcher said.

An average home can avoid about 1,700 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year by using a green energy plan, the same as driving a car 2,000 miles, said Helen Brauner, director of marketing for Green Mountain Energy.

"There has been a lot of momentum in green energy," Brauner said. "People are willing to trade a little bit in price to know that they aren't hurting the environment."

Like Brauner mentioned, however, getting green electricity is usually more expensive than traditional plans. Renewable power can cost anywhere from 5 to 15 percent more than traditional energy, according to the Public Utilities Commission of Texas' Web site.

Reliant's renewable plan costs consumers $161 a month for 1,000 kilowatt hours, $8 more than the traditional plan. Other plans vary depending on contract lengths and other terms.

Green Mountain's plan costs customers $154 a month for 1,000 kilowatt hours, about $8 more a month than TXU's non-renewable plan.

Reliant introduced its wind energy plan in 2002, when the renewable electricity first came on the Texas market. Since then, the program has been popular with niche audiences across the state, said Pat Hammond, a spokeswoman for the company.

At Adair's North McAllen home, she barely notices the difference when she turns on the air conditioning or flips on a light switch.

"I haven't noticed much of a difference on my bill," she said. "I just feel a bit better about myself."

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Kyle Arnold covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4410.