Burlington,
Vermont - Now 100% Powered by Renewable Energy
From: Kevin
Mathews, Care2, More from this ENN Affiliate
Burlington, Vermont, already considered to be one of the United
States's most environmentally progressive cities, has added another line to its
impressive green resume. Just recently, the city finalized its transition to
relying 100% on renewable resources for its energy.
Burlington is Vermont's large city, though that in itself is no
big feat — the city has a population of just 42,000. Then again, very few
communities of even this size have managed to disassociate themselves from
fossil fuels. In order to adequately tackle climate change, cities — big and
small — need to prioritize finding and utilizing alternative energy solutions.
The 100% mark was made possible when the Burlington Electric
Department bought hydroelectric technology stationed on the Winooski River near
Burlington's border. The power created by water supplements the city's existing
wind technologies, as well as a biomass facility that harvests energy from leftover
woodchips supplied by the region's logging industry.
Vermont on the whole, however, intends to follow Burlington's lead
in adopting more renewable energy. The state has declared a goal of having
renewable resources provide 90% of the energy before the year 2050. Residents
are so supportive of this effort that utility companies are going out of their
way to accommodate alternative energy to their customers.
In truth, Burlington does rely on some fossil fuels for energy
when the renewable resources aren't readily available — sometimes the wind is
too weak to generate much power, for example. To cover these times, they will
purchase energy created with non-renewable resources to provide the city with
electricity.
When the wind is strong, however, Burlington will trade the excess
energy to other towns to make up for its deficits. Overall, Burlington energy
authorities explain, the city sells more of its own (clean) energy than it buys
from other communities.
For this reason, some environmentalists say that Burlington's
"100%" rate is a bit of stretch and deserves an asterisk next to it.
Sill, an asterisk is better than the effort that most American cities have put
in thus far.
Read more at ENN affiliate, Care2.