Honey, could you pick up some milk and eggs on the way home? And maybe a little wind power?
No joke. Wind power goes on sale today at 76 Whole Foods stores in Colorado and the Western U.S., where customers can buy cards representing wind-energy credits at the checkout counter.
In denominations of $5 and $15, the credits enable customers to financially participate in generating wind energy, even though their actual home power will continue to come from conventional sources.
“Wind Power Cards do not reduce or replace conventional electricity bills, but they offer consumers an opportunity to ensure that the energy they take from the grid is replaced with clean, renewable energy derived from wind power,” said Quayle Hodek, chief executive of Renewable Choice Energy, a Boulder-based broker of wind-energy credits.
Buying wind-power credits in commercial quantities has become popular with some businesses, including Whole Foods and Vail Resorts, both of which purchased wind credits this year to offset all of their projected power consumption.
But officials of Whole Foods and Renewable Choice Energy said they believe the new program is the first in the nation that allows people to purchase wind credits at a retail outlet. The $5 cost represents the amount above conventional power that an individual would pay per month for wind power. The $15 represents the same thing for a family.
The program is similar to Xcel Energy’s Windsource, in which utility customers can voluntarily pay a small premium to buy wind-generated power.
However, unlike Windsource, whose power comes from wind farms in Colorado, the new retail venture will supply credits from wind farms throughout the nation.
Revenue from sale of the credits goes to wind-farm developers and operators, many of which are large or medium-sized, for-profit corporations.
Supporting the corporate wind farms is the equivalent of supporting organic farmers by paying a premium for organic produce, said Ted Rose, director of business development for Renewable Choice Energy.
Plus, Rose said, the wind-credit cards can be used as refrigerator magnets.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to reduce or eliminate their carbon (emissions) footprint,” said Craig Cox, executive director of the Interwest Energy Alliance, a wind-power advocacy group.
Cox said the only change he would like to see in the program is for the sale of the credits to be targeted to wind farms near the buyers.
“I guess a rising tide lifts all boats,” he said, “but I’d rather see the boats in our own pond.”
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
