Green Power

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.

WRA's Green Power web pages will help you make these decisions by providing you with information about your options.

What is Green Energy?

Green power, or renewable energy, is energy generated by using natural resources that are abundant in nature, easily replenished, and do not add to the net total of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. The most common renewable energy sources are wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass energy. These energy sources do not burn finite natural resources and do not create greenhouse gasses linked to global climate change as a byproduct of energy production.

What fossil fuels do

There are a number of reasons for shifting away from energy derived from burning fossil fuels and moving toward green energies. The combustion process for burning petroleum, coal and natural gas produces large amounts of polluting gasses, smog-inducing airborne particulates and emmissions of other toxic compounds such as mercury and arsenic. All combusted fossil fuels produce greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide that have set up the planet for human-induced climate change. Extracting any fossil fuel is damaging to the environment in which they are found and exposes all living things to toxic byproducts. We cannot continue to use fossil fuels for our dominant energy sources as we have become accustomed to.

Going Green

Green power offers a sustainable solution for maintaining a high quality of life without inflicting the damage caused by fossil fuels.

This green power section explores what options are available and what you can do to join the shift away from fossil fuels that is already underway. WRA is helping to move the West toward a new green energy economy. We beagn our involvement with Green Power in 1997 when we began a Green Marketing Program to educate citizens and businesses about ways to use renewable energy and create a profitable way for utilies to transition to green power.

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