Blasphemy! But really, who has the time?
According to the chair of the state Public Utility Commission, Robert F. Powelson, fewer than a fifth of Peco's customers have switched, and he's disappointed about that.
For illumination on the reason, I suggest he look at his own website, designed to help people sort out the options - www.papowerswitch.com.
When I entered my zip code and other information, it produced a chart with more than two dozen options. I asked it to sort out the companies offering renewable energy. That got me down to nine choices.
But the chart didn't say how much of the energy was renewable, or what kind it was. The chart merely instructed: "Call for details."
Somehow, this seemed to fall into my complaint that we have way too many meaningless choices in our culture. We have way too many paint colors. Way too many brands of jeans. Don't even get me started on lightbulbs!
All this fosters the illusion that perfection is achievable, if we just tweak our consumption habits. If we buy a little more. Or spend a little more.
Why couldn't electric companies do the right thing and incorporate more renewables, not put the onus on me?
But now I'm feeling totally sheepish. I really should have done this already.
Courtney Lane agrees. She's the senior energy policy analyst with PennFuture, a state advocacy nonprofit, and when I called and told her I still hadn't switched, I could hear her surprise - a little intake of breath.
PennFuture is big on this because of the current power mix in the regional grid - about 50 percent coal, and many plants still do not have modern pollution controls.
She did not scold. She was nice. But, "if you're not buying green power, your money is just going to all these older polluting power plants," she said. "You're just supporting the status quo."
