My husband makes sure to make green choices as long as possible in our daily life. So it was no surprise when he decided to choose wind energy for our electricity supply at home a few years ago.
A few
years later he is rethinking about what he had initially thought would mean years of gain.
The reason is our most recent
electricity bill and a note attached along with it. The note mentions that if
we want to go totally wind energy dependent (we are 50-50 right now), then it
will cost us 75 cents more per kilowatt.
It led me to think that why we are we being
reprimanded for turning green. The answer lies in the latest discovery of
enormous oil and gas reserves under American soil, which is having a game
changing impact on the entire economy.
America is importing less oil now.
The share of US petroleum consumption coming from the importers has dwindled
from 52% in 2008 to 42% in 2010 ( Source:EIA).
As revolutionary as these discoveries
might seem, their impact won’t hit the homes immediately for most people. Most
notably, the rising oil production is a long way from making a big difference
in prices for the gas. Still, the new energy boom is already creating an upheaval
in a host of other sectors, producing some new unexpected losers and winners.
Cheap natural gas, for instance, has been a bonanza for companies that burn
tons of it, utilities and chemical giants being the big players. Nowhere has this impact of cheaper
fuel been more pronounced than in the alternative energy industry, solar, wind
and even nuclear power providers to name a few.
Is it worth paying a premium for
electricity at home from a cleaner source? The only certainty, experts say, is
that these decisions are tricky as long as the energy dice continues to roll.
