Be Your Own Power Company

by Joel Hanson

Despite an almost total media blackout in the American press, the Kyoto Protocol quietly went into effect on February 16. The approximately 140 nations that ratified the treaty will now take steps to limit their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels--measures most climate experts agree are an insufficient means of stablizing the earth's atmosphere.

Nevertheless, the Bush Administration refuses to implement these modest changes. They claim the scientific arguments are spurious despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary and, more importantly, that such emissions reductions would be bad for big business.

Thus, environmentally concerned citizens of the world's largest polluter essentially have two options to combat our government's short-sighted desire to pollute with impunity: Support the "People's Ratification of the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty" petition (www.kyotoandbeyond.org) to pressure the American government to comply with the Kyoto Protocol and/or invest in renewable energy resources to start generating their own, cleaner power.

The dream of constructing a windfarm and removing yourself from the power grid is still a few years off, but it is now economically feasible for a Washington homeowner to install a rooftop photo-voltaic (solar) system with a state subsidy. You'll also need an "inverter" that, on sunny days, sends the excess power you personally generate back out to the grid for use by others, spinning your electric meter in reverse and significantly reducing the $1300 bill the average American family spends each year on utilities according to the US Department of Energy.

The state subsidies, called Energy Efficient Rebates, can be used by homeowners to pay for home improvements that decrease their home's dependency on traditional fossil fuel electricity. In King County, for example, Puget Sound Energy offers a $525-per-kilowatt subsidy to homeowners who are interested in solar-panel installation. Visit the Puget Sound Energy website or call 1-800-562-1482 for more details.

Now for the bad news: a 12-panel, two-kilowatt system costs several thousand dollars to purchase and install, a kilowatt hour of solar power still costs five times as much as traditional fossil fuel electricty, according to a recent Mother Jones article by Bill McKibben, and it will take years to recoup the costs of the investment. Nevertheless, the price of traditionally generated power does not account for the problems produced by its widespread use. As McKibben writes "America is beginning to realize that the real cost of cheap energy is considerably higher... polluted air, sick kids, [and] global warming."

The good news is that solar panel installation requires no change in lifestyle, a 14-percent global increase in solar panel installation each year for the next half century will play a vital role in reversing the devasting effects of global warming (according to a study published in an August 2004 issue of Science magazine), and there is definite momentum to embrace the technology as prices decrease and people become aware of the long-term benefits. "More solar power has been harnassed in the last two years than in all of previous history," McKibben writes. Japan and Germany have now installed solar panels on well over 100,000 homes, driving the price of solar energy in those countries to half of its current 25-cent price per kilowatt hour. Will the US follow the lead of its progressive neighbors and accept more responsibility for its excessive and harmful energy consumption? Despite Seattle Mayor Greg Nichols' pledge to make the Kyoto Protocol recommendations a citywide reality, that all depends on you.