Good job! Our consumer demand for clean energy has significantly reduced demand for power generated by polluting coal. Solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal energy sources combined are making a large impact in providing the energy Americans need.

Burning coal pollutes the air and generates carbon dioxide, a major cause of climate change.

Given how serious climate change is, this increased capacity in clean energy is great news!

Use of Coal-Powered Electricity Plants on the Decline in America

With the clean energy revolution is in full swing and more consumers switch to solar and wind, America’s dependence on coal is waning. According to the US Energy Information Administration, coal use in U.S. is at its lowest point in 39 years. In the year 2000, a total of 1,024 coal-powered electricity plants were in operation in the United States. By 2018, that number had decreased to 359.

In part, the decline in coal use can be attributed to natural gas. But that’s not the long-term solution to either climate change or the pollution associated with fossil fuels.  Burning natural gas still sends a considerable amount of climate-changing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Maybe worse, large amounts of methane gas are released into the air during “fracking,” the destructive process of hydraulic fracturing used to extract natural gas from underground shale formations. In fact, though methane gas accounts for only about 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, it lasts longer in the atmosphere, so can actually be worse for climate change than CO2. Plus, fracking pollutes groundwater and creates terrible air pollution around its facilities, many of which are located near schools and in the heart of communities.

What’s So Bad About Fracking? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Clean Energy Capacity Matching That of Coal

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) tracks the capacity of different energy sources. The April and May 2018 capacity reports show that renewable energy sources are on par with that of coal, both having around 20-22% of power producing ability. 

For renewables, wind and water lead the way by together providing about 75% of the total renewable energy capacity. Eight of the ten largest wind farms in the world are located in the U.S. Five of those are in Texas. The largest wind farm in the world is located in Kern County, California. It has the capacity of creating 1,020 MW, with expansion plans to raise its capacity to 1,550 MW.

Solar has added 200 new units so far this year. This gives solar an additional 1,964 MW of capacity, allowing it to account for 2.83% of America’s total power generating ability. Con Ed, a large U.S. utility company, is the second largest solar energy provider in North America. In 2018, they acquired wind and solar projects worth 2.1 billion dollars.

Their total clean energy capacity now can reduce carbon emissions by 5.4 million metric tons each year. That is equivalent to removing 1.2 million cars off of the highway.

The present issue with renewable energy power production is that the capacity is not being used. But with the ever-present public and state pressure for green energy, power producers will continue to scale up their use of renewables.

It’s only a matter of time before clean energy production will permanently bypass that of coal. 

The post Hate Coal Pollution? Switch to Solar, Wind. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Are you smarter than a light bulb? If you’re using ENERGY STAR certified LEDs, congratulations! You are!! You can prove it by sharing a photo of your best LED moment on Facebook or Twitter using the #LightTheMoment hashtag.

#LightTheMoment

If you’re not using ENERGY STAR certified LEDs, well…the light bulb might win.

That may sound ridiculous, but consider this:

According to U.S. EPA, the average American home – probably like yours – has approximately 50 light sockets.

Most of those still use inefficient incandescent light bulbs – you know, like the ones Thomas Edison invented. In 1879. That’s 138 years ago!!

Would you consider using a phone that relied on 138-year-old technology? No.

Would you want to putz around in the 109-year-old Model T? Nope.

What about trying to make your latte using a Little House on the Prairie-type open fire cooking pit? I just don’t see it.

And yet, when it comes to light bulbs, you’re using the least smart, oldest, most expensive to operate, and most time wasting technology on the market:

An incandescent bulb.

A bulb that spends 90 percent of the energy it consumes (and that you pay for) creating heat, not even light!

A bulb that lasts only 1/10 as long as bulbs that you can reliably turn on and off for an average of 15,000 hours before they need to be replaced.

Duhhh…

Lucky for you EPA’s ENERGY STAR program is coming to the rescue.

They’ve worked closely with the lighting industry to develop energy efficient LED bulbs. Here’s why they’re so smart!

WHAT ARE ENERGY STAR CERTIFIED LEDs?

LED stands for light emitting diodes, but that’s not important.

What’s important is that LED light bulbs certified to meet ENERGY STAR’s high-performance standards are so much more energy-efficient and cost-effective that, well, they make anyone who uses them look a LOT smarter than people who still use those old-fashioned incandescents.

ENERGY STAR knows you WANT to be smart. That’s why, starting on October 24 (today), they’ve launched an initiative to encourage you to #LightTheMoment by sharing pictures of special moments in your life that can be made even better by lighting them with ENERGY STAR certified LEDs.

In fact, ENERGY STAR is inviting you to take pictures of those moments and post them on Facebook and Twitter using the #LightTheMoment hashtag (please tag @ENERGYSTAR while you’re at it).

If you already have LED light bulbs in your home, go ahead and and show off how smart you are by snapping fun photos of how you’re enjoying their light at home or at work.

Then stay tuned, because, in addition to impressing all your friends and family with your energy smart-ness, ENERGY STAR will be showcasing many of the photos in their “Moments Gallery.” Your photo may even end up in a “Light the Moment” highlight reel in November. (I love this reel ENERGY STAR has pulled together so far.)

But if you DON’T have LED light bulbs yet, for goodness sake go get some! Check with your local utility before you head for the store, since many power companies actually give consumers rebates to buy LEDs.

You’ll save money buying the bulbs, and you’ll save money on your electric bill, too – in some cases, up to $55 over the lifetime of each and every bulb you buy.

Remember those 50 outlets EPA says most houses have?

Do the math:

50 outlets x $55/bulb savings = $2,750.

How smart is that?!!

By the way, LED light bulbs give you some bragging rights when it comes to talking about what you’re doing to stop climate change – and after all the climate-related hurricanes and fires this season, who doesn’t want to do that?

Most electricity still comes from coal-fired power plants. Burning coal emits the carbon dioxide that causes climate change.

When you switch to an LED, you reduce the amount of coal needed to keep the light bulbs burning in your house.

 “If each home replaced only one of Thomas Edison’s light bulbs with an ENERGY STAR certified LED, we would prevent nearly 7 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emission per year, equivalent to the emissions from 650,000 cars.”  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Doesn’t that sound like a no-brainer?

SHARE YOUR #LightTheMoment!

You can get more information about the #LightTheMoment campaign from ENERGY STAR right here.

If you need help figuring out what bulb to actually buy, check out this handy guide.

By the way, here’s one last way to show you really are smarter than a light bulb:

When you buy your LEDs, make sure they carry the bright blue ENERGY STAR label. That’s how you’ll know the bulbs meet the highest performance and energy efficiency standards you want.

DO ME A FAVOR, PRETTY PLEASE!

Will you please share this post and the hashtag #LightTheMoment with your own communities? I know sometimes it’s fun to be the only smarty pants in the room. But I think you’ll agree that, right now, the planet needs as many smart people pulling for it as possible.

Thanks for spreading the word!

The post Are You Smarter Than a Lightbulb? Only if You’re Using ENERGY STAR Certified LEDs! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Against a black backdrop, bright yellow letters shout:

“Burning coal is the dirtiest way we produce electricity.”

“There are no homes in America powered by clean coal.”

“CO2 emissions from coal-based electricity are greater than emissions from all the cars and trucks in America.”

The video version features a bright yellow canary dropping dead – an unmistakable stand-in for the “canary in the coal mine” that lets miners know when mine gases have become so toxic that they’re about to expire.

It’s a briliant campaign, intended to debunk the quickly growing myth that “clean” coal can solve our energy problems.

Says the sponsoring group, ThisisReality.org, “Coal cannot be called ‘clean’ until its CO2 emissions are captured and stored safely.” That’s not likely to happen any time soon. There are roughly 600 coal plants producing electricity in the U.S. Not one of them captures and stores its global warming pollution.

“Clean” coal? I don’t think so.

The post Clean Coal? Not Really… appeared first on Big Green Purse.