A key component of a more sustainable energy future for the West is to expand the number of homes and businesses that are using renewable energy. Since 1997, WRA's Green Power program has worked to educate citizens and businesses about ways to use renewable energy.

The movement toward "greener" power is based on decisions you make. You make decisions on a daily basis of how much and what kind of energy to use. You can make decisions on where your energy comes from. You can also make the decision to capture renewable energy on your own to decrease your dependence upon utilities producing energy from fossil fuels.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,500 megawatts of generation, 1.2 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas and oil reserves, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates the nation's largest natural gas storage facility with 975 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 12 states. Corporate headquarters are in Richmond, Va.

Dominion's strategy is to be a leading provider of electricity, natural gas and related services to customers in the energy-intensive Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S., a potential market of 50 million homes and businesses where 40 percent of the nation's energy is consumed.

Green Power! On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) presented us with a 2009 Green Power Leadership Award for our commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market. This is a significant achievement for Applied, as we were one of only three organizations nationwide to receive an award for on-site generation of green power.

EnviroGen is a privately held family owned business dedicated to the idea of providing “GREEN” renewable energy to customers in New York. Our mission is to accomplish the following:

* Provide a clean, renewable energy choice to customers in New York.

* Create a cleaner environment for our children and grandchildren.

* Promote renewable electric generation and energy conservation.

* Provide high quality service to our customers.

The Leonardo Energy (LE) website and its blogs, Sustainable Energy Blog and the Electricity Blog, provide you with a broad pallet of information in various formats. The website is structured in such a way that the same content can be reached via different paths. Below is a short manual on the routes that can be followed to LE content.

How to look up information?

* Home page. This page contains the most recent articles posted on LE. Articles remain on this main content stream as long as   they continue to attract 100 views  per month after the first month.

* Topics. In the left column of the website, you can see a list of topics. Click on one of them and you will receive a list of content related to that topic.
* Content types. The top menu 'library' gives access to a variety of articles, briefing papers, reports, … In particular, the eLibrary allows to download all our publications onto a searchable archive on your desktop, and keep it synchronised.
* Interactive area: in the spirit of 'short didactics', a variety of minute lectures, quiz, webcasts and software tools.

* Choose a blog. At the upper right corner of the website, you can see links to the Sustainable Energy and Electricity blogs. Those blogs provide the subsets of the content of the website:

* Sustainable Energy blog: distributed generation, climate, energy efficiency, eco-design, green building, …
* Electricity blog: electrical networks, power system economics, ...
* Power Quality blog: harmonics, dips, earthing, EMC, standards, ...
* Photoblog: royalty-free, high resolution pictures with explanations

* Search. Click on ‘Search’ in the block ‘More links’, to mine our library of close to 1,000 articles
* Tagcloud. In the ‘Tagcloud’, also reached via ‘More links’, the main tags are shown, with their size representing the number of content items they refer to. By      clicking on a tag, you can view all content that is related to it.
* Archive. At the bottom of the right column of the website, you can find a monthly archive of posted articles.
* Subscription. Leonardo ENERGY offers over 20 mailing lists for subscription. After subscribing, you will receive regular e-mailings containing relevant topics of      your e-profile (maximum weekly for subscribers joining all lists).
* Registration. In the left column, you can register as a user. This gives you more interaction possibilities, i.e. voting and commenting.

I recently decided to make another run at buying green power since my electricity, like most of America, comes primarily from the burning of coal. Not clean coal -- old-fashioned dirty coal.

I looked around Dominion's website, but could only find the same form I'd filled out last year that failed to deliver any results.
I called Dominion's customer service line and talked to a very nice woman who said Dominion does not offer any renewable energy for sale to its customers. However, through the Virginia Renewable Energy Program, Dominion customers can buy green energy from a third party and have that power delivered to Dominion's grid.

She told me to fill out the same form I'd filled out last year and that suppliers would get back to me. Having had no luck with that, I pressed her for another solution. She pointed me to the Virginia Energy Choice website, where I could contact the suppliers directly.
I thanked the woman for her help, and she asked if I had any other questions. I said, "Well, to be honest, I'm wondering why Dominion makes it so hard to get renewable energy."

"We have been helping environmental advocates around the world promote renewable energy payment policies, and we are excited to bring these lessons home to Oregon."

Imagine this: Just a few years from now, you are driving through your neighborhood and you begin to notice that there are solar panels on every other house.  You've been thinking about installing solar panels, but always thought it was cost prohibitive.  So you're wondering - how did that happen?  How were these folks able to afford it?  How did we get to a system of "Main Street Green Power?"

The technology has been available for many years.  The challenge has always been financing for the necessary infrastructure.  But brilliant advocates in Germany and around the world have figured out a system that works.

Under a policy called renewable energy payments (REPs), the utility commits to pay for renewable energy at a reasonable price over a long period of time.  Germany used this policy to meet its target of obtaining 12.5% of its energy from renewable sources, like solar and wind power, three years ahead of schedule.  Germany is now is up to 14%, while the U.S.  gets less than one half of 1% of its energy from solar power and less than 7% of its power from all renewable sources, including hydropower.  These policies have helped Germany reduce CO2 emissions 18.5% below 1990 levels.  The country is on target to achieve a 40% reduction by 2020.

ELAW is at the forefront of efforts to bring these proven, effective policies to the United States.  Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason and ELAW volunteer lawyer Jolene Goodnight are working on draft REP legislation that could be adopted in Oregon.  Hawaii, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Michigan are considering similar policies.

ELAW is seeking additional funding so that Jennifer can train advocates around the country, and around the world, to draft and promote strong renewable energy payment policies.