Who's the Greenest of them All?

According to a recent post by treehugger, my home town is powered by the top-rated green energy utility in the country. How proud I must be. Austin Energy uses wind power, landfill gas, and small hydro to supply 435 MWh/year to Austin and surrouding areas. Their GreenChoice Renewable Energy Program is fully subscribed and is so popular (due in part to the fact that renewable sources are now less expensive than fossil fuel and in part to the fact that Austinites are just cool that way) that the utility recently had a drawing to decide which customers would get to subscribe to the next batch of renewable energy. Of course, I entered, and believe it or not, my account was randomly drawn. I never win anything that requires luck--there must have been some karma involved.

On a sidenote, this news about Austin Energy makes me think of something Austin Mayor Will Wynn said when I heard him speak recently at the Sustainable Shoppers Ball. I can't remember all the details (e.g., dates and figures), but he told a story about a coal power plant that was planned for construction a few years back. The land was purchased and the plans were drawn. However, the plant was never built because Austinites conserved enough energy to make the power plant unnecessary. A huge cheer went up from the crowd and one little, green tear started to form in the corner of this iHippie's eye.