Cut your carbon emissions without a lifestyle overhaul

Published 10:40 am Friday, April 10, 2015

If you’ve been reading my blog, LowCarbonGirl, over the past couple years or have just been trying to reduce your carbon footprint, you know how hard it is to make meaningful lifestyle changes and still be part of modern society.

It wasn’t until I started thinking about buying an electric car that an easier path to a low-carbon lifestyle came into focus.

After doing a little research I realized that driving an electric car isn’t that much better than some of its gas-powered counterparts unless it’s powered with renewable energy. The cost of setting up a solar array for my new electric car seemed excessive.

What to do? Why not change the source of our electricity? How hard could that be?

Not that hard. In 2008 our neighbors in Jefferson County (Port Townsend) voted to give electric authority to their public utility district, Jefferson PUD. Today, they have their own locally controlled, nonprofit power system, which is virtually carbon-free.

They get their power from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Eighty-nine percent of BPA’s power is hydroelectric and virtually all of is it is carbon-free.

We could get our electric power from the BPA and in one fell swoop reduce the island’s carbon emissions. BPA has set aside a small amount of low cost tier one power for new nonprofit utilities. Of the 150-plus megawatts of power currently available, Bainbridge would need about    50 megawatts.

While Bainbridge Islanders’ first concern may not be job creation, it is interesting to note that Jefferson County was able to create 35 living-wage jobs when they created an electric utility. And, more importantly, now about 50 percent of the $33 million in ratepayer revenue stays in the county as compared to 2 percent previously.

Could Bainbridge Island benefit from another revenue stream? Probably. Let’s keep more money on the island instead of sending it off island to a foreign-owned utility.

Currently, 49 percent of Puget Sound Energy’s electric power comes from carbon-emitting coal and natural gas. The coal-generated electricity comes from Montana’s Colstrip coal mine, which is an environmental hazard – it is one of the top 10 emitters of carbon dioxide in the United States, plus its ash ponds have polluted aquifers.

As an investor-owned utility, Puget Sound Energy has a fiduciary responsibility to increase their net worth, and coal is a good financial investment.

Local nonprofits, such as Climate Action Bainbridge and the Washington chapter of Sierra Club have lobbied PSE to retire the Colstrip mine without being truly heard or impacting PSE’s operations. While our switch from PSE to BPA won’t immediately close the coal mine, it will send a message that Bainbridge Island is serious about using electricity that emits as little carbon dioxide as possible.

“In early October, PSE customers, Coal-Free PSE actives, and a coalition of partners delivered 10,000 petitions to PSE in Olympia. Accompanying the petitions was a report card, in which PSE was given an incomplete for not coming up with a plan to retire their coal plant.” – Sierra Club’s Cascade CREST newsletter winter 2014.

As a nonprofit island-owned utility, we would finally be able to voice our preferences, be heard and adapt quickly to new technologies.

Imagine being able to add power to our grid from distributed sources that can recycle waste heat and energy. There are many exciting options available today which will reduce our negative impact on the planet without completely altering our lifestyles. Who’s in?

Jane Lindley is co-chair of Island Power, a grassroots group that is working toward the establishment of a Bainbridge-based power utility.