ALTERNATIVE ENERGY A new breeze could be blowing

Despite concern about energy prices, global warming, and dependence on foreign oil, 98 percent of America’s energy still comes from non-renewable sources, most of which are environmentally hazardous. In Rhode Island, the extent of the reliance on oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and non-green hydropower is pretty similar — only about three percent of energy in the state is renewable (and most of this comes from landfill gas). However, a new option — wind power — has recently become available to Rhode Islanders.

To support the use of wind power, consumers can purchase renewable energy certificates. Doing so doesn’t mean that wind energy will power your home. It does mean, though, that a specific amount of renewable wind energy will be put into the grid — the pool of energy manufactured by various electric companies.

Rhode Island consumers can buy certificates from a national green company such as Renewable Choice, based in Colorado (www.renewablechoice.com), or a local nonprofit, People’s Power & Light (www.ripower.org), which taps the strength of wind farms in New England. With the purchase of these certificates, more clean energy enters the pool, displacing non-renewable energy. To replace conventional electricity with wind power, consumers just have to determine their typical energy use. And although buying wind power won’t reduce the electricity bill — the alternative source brings a separate expense, costing about $12-$24 a month — it does offer tangible support for sustainable energy.

Nationally, the goal targeted by many environmental and activist groups is to get 20 percent of America’s energy from wind power by 2020. This is a big goal since the current figure is less than one percent. However, the use of wind energy has grown more than 25 percent in 2003. Quale Hodek, the CEO of Renewable Choice, says, "There is enough wind in the Midwest to power the whole US. People joke and call it the Saudi Arabia of wind."

New England doesn’t have many wind farms, but there are many projects in the works, including Cape Wind, a controversial plan to place 130 wind turbines five miles off the coasts of Cape Cod, in Horseshoe Shoal. Critics have cited environmental and aesthetic concerns, and the proposal is undergoing impact studies. If these studies show the project to be environmentally safe, construction could start in 2004.

Cape Wind is working to make the turbines minimally visible from shore. If this project is successful, it would provide, on average, 75 percent of the Cape’s electricity needs, supplanting the demand for 133 million gallons of oil each year. While wind power is currently a miniscule portion of the energy collected by grids, Erich Stephens of People’s Power and Light says the renewable utility is "creating demand one wind turbine at a time."