Belmont residents now have two quick and painless routes to powering their homes with clean electricity. Not everyone has the option of installing rooftop solar panels, and wind turbines can be a tad unwieldy for the back yard; but we can all clean up our household electricity with a few easy steps.
The non-profit climate advocacy group Mothers Out Front has partnered with the Mass Energy Consumers Alliance (Mass Energy) on their Make the Switch campaign. Mass Energy purchases and sells renewable energy credits that consumers can use to offset the fossil fuels in their monthly electricity use. It’s kind of like buying the ‘green’ from renewable energy and using it to wipe out the pollution in the fossil fuels you consume. The end result (other than the satisfaction that you’ve made an important step to protect the next generation) is increased demand for and investment in renewable energy. Mass Audubon is also part of the Make the Switch campaign, so now you have several reasons to hop on board.
Get started now
To get started, go to http://info.massenergy.org/mothersoutfront and click “Make the Switch”. When asked to choose a utility, Belmont residents should select “My utility is none of these”. Because Belmont has a municipal utility, residents won’t have their clean energy purchases embedded in their utility bill. Instead, they can offset their estimated monthly electricity consumption – or any amount of their choosing – through Mass Energy’s New England Wind Friends program. From the New England Wind Friends page, select “Click here to sign up” and complete the form to set up a monthly payment. The site has a feature to help you estimate your monthly payment, which for the average household ranges from $12 to $23 and is 100 percent tax deductible.
Remember to select Mothers Out Front as the people who sent you there. Currently, Mass Energy donates $25 for every new sign up. Mothers Out Front uses those funds to mobilize our communities and leaders with the goal of making Massachusetts a clear leader on the clean energy front.
Don’t want the hassle of a separate monthly charge? Belmont Light offers clean energy purchasing through its Green Choice program. It costs more per unit of carbon offset, but it can be rolled into your monthly utility bill. Read more here.