BRIDGES In
the News
'Green power' on sale at MLGW
Customers pay extra for solar, wind sources
Originally appeared in the April 21, 2005 edition of the
Commercial Appeal
By Tom Charlier
Appropriately enough, the sun was shining.
It beamed Wednesday on the Uptown neighborhood of Memphis and
on the angled
roof of the new BRIDGES building, where 176 photovoltaic
modules converted the
sunlight into electricity for use across the Tennessee Valley
Authority region.
It was a suitable setting for TVA and the Memphis Light, Gas
and Water Division to
announce that utility customers in Shelby County now can buy
"green power" -- from
solar, wind and methane-gas sources -- by agreeing to pay a
little extra on their
monthly bills.
Available for years in some parts of the Mid-South, TVA's
Green Power Switch
program is designed to promote alternatives to the coal-fired
plants, nuclear facilities
and hydro-electric dams that generate almost all of the
region's electricity.
More than 7,000 households and 350 businesses in the TVA
region are buying green power. Those revenues go toward the
development of green-power generation.
"The more we can sell, the more we can build," said Jim
Keiffer, senior vice president of marketing for TVA.
MLGW, the 76th utility in the TVA region to offer green power,
has set a goal of enrolling 1 percent -- or 4,200 -- of its
420,000 customers, said vice president of engineering Chris
Bieber.
Residents and businesses may buy "blocks" of green power --
each representing 150 kilowatt-hours, or about 10-12 percent
of a typical household's monthly needs. Each block purchased
adds $4 to a customer's bill.
The $12 million BRIDGES building at 477 N. Fifth, which uses
panels assembled by Sharp Electronics Corp. in Memphis, is one
of 16 solar-energy sites established by TVA. It generates
enough power to supply about three typical homes.
"We were always interested in having a building that's as
sustainable and environmentally sensitive as possible," said
Jim Boyd, president of BRIDGES, a nonprofit youth-development
organization.
In addition to the solar sites, energy for the program comes
from an array of mountaintop wind turbines in East Tennessee
and methane gas produced by a City of Memphis
wastewater-treatment lagoon.
-- Tom Charlier: 901-529-2572
Copyright 2005,
commercialappeal.com -
Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved."
|
