Windy city now located in Iowa

MidAmerican Energy Co. has announced plans to add up to 656 new wind turbines in western Iowa. The turbines will generate over 1000 MEGAwatts. The utility says the additional turbines should help stabilize electric rates, providing a rate reduction totaling $10 million per year by 2017.

Click here to read the entire article:

656 new wind turbines planned for Iowa – Omaha.com

Talking Trash

Oslo, Norway is a recycling-friendly place where roughly half the city and most of its schools are heated by burning garbage — household trash, industrial waste, even toxic and dangerous waste from hospitals and drug arrests. Recently they are experiencing a problem: they are literally running out of garbage to burn.

Across Northern Europe, where the practice of burning garbage to generate heat and electricity has exploded in recent decades, demand for trash far outstrips supply. The fastidious population of Northern Europe produces only about 150 million tons of waste a year, far too little to supply incinerating plants that can handle more than 700 million tons.

Garbage in Oslo is very high-tech. Households separate their garbage, putting food waste in green plastic bags, plastics in blue bags and glass elsewhere. The bags are handed out free at groceries and other stores.

The separation of organic garbage, like food waste, has begun enabling Oslo to produce biogas, which is now powering some buses in downtown Oslo.

— excerpted from The New York Times (click here to read the entire article)

Plant a tree!

Scientists agree that properly planted trees could help to reduce your energy use through summer shading and slowing cold winter winds. As your trees grow, they have the potential to lower your energy bills by up to 15 to 30 percent.

As spring planting season nears, Verde Energy is reminding homeowners that trees offer much more than a picturesque view out their windows. When planted in energy-saving locations, trees help customers reduce energy consumption, meet energy efficiency goals, reduce carbon footprints and overall, improve the environment. To celebrate Arbor Day, we’d like to share some energy-saving tree facts:

• Heating and cooling typically account for nearly half of a home’s annual energy use and studies have shown that planting the right tree, in the right place, can help customers save up to 30 percent on their energy use throughout the year.
• Planting the right trees in the right places conserves energy and reduces your energy bills, while helping to fight climate change. Properly placed trees save energy by providing summer shade, winter warmth, and winter windbreaks.
• The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
• Shaded air conditioners run more efficiently. Large deciduous trees planted on the east, west, and northwest sides of your home create soothing shade from the hot summer sun and reduce summer air conditioning costs by up to 35%.
• If you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3% less. In 15 years the savings will be nearly 12%.
• Arbor Day representatives estimate within 20 years the 2,000 mature trees will result in more than $380,000 in energy savings.
• One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people.

 Ask your utility to join Energy-Saving Trees   

Many utilities have joined Energy-Saving Trees, an Arbor Day Foundation program that helps conserve energy and reduce energy bills through strategic tree planting. Help spread the word about this new program to your local utility, it can work in any location across the United States. If your local utility joins Energy-Saving Trees, your community will receive discounted trees. These trees will be distributed to residents to strategically plant around their homes. As the trees mature, they will help to conserve energy. This will lower the entire town’s energy use while making it greener. If your utility is not part of the program, go to Energy Saving Trees to request the program in your area.

The trees that shade your patios, sidewalks, and driveways, cool the concrete, the entire yard, and even the neighborhood!

You use less energy.

The utility company uses less energy.

Less fossil fuel is consumed by the utility to create the energy.

Less fossil fuel consumption means less carbon dioxide emissions!

Happy Earth Day!

Ever wondered how Earth Day started? This observance arose from an interest in gathering national support for environmental issues. In 1970, San Francisco activist John McConnell and Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson separately asked Americans to join in a grassroots demonstration. McConnell chose the spring equinox (March 21, 1970) and Nelson chose April 22. Millions of people participated, and today Earth Day continues to be widely celebrated with events on both dates. The most common practice of celebration is to plant new trees for Earth Day.

Click here to visit EarthDay.org

Hot off the press!

Chicago suburb, Evanston, IL has chosen to contract Verde Energy to provide power to nearly 30,000 households! Read the entire story:

Crain’s Chicago Business

Congratulations to all the customers that made the right choice with Verde Energy USA!