Program lets shoppers buy into wind power
- Along with their organic vegetables, herbal remedies and brie, Whole Foods Market shoppers can now buy renewable energy credits.
The high-end grocer began selling wind-power cards at 80 stores in Texas and other western states.
The wind-power cards, marketed by Renewable Choice Energy, represent renewable energy credits generated by wind farms. For $15, a customer can buy credits that correspond with 750 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is about what an average family would use in a month. A $5 card represents 250 kilowatt-hours of renewable credits.
The cards double as refrigerator magnets – which is good, since buying the credits is just a feel-good move for people who want to offset their energy use by contributing to alternative sources. You can't use the credit, but it helps support wind-generated power.
Ted Rose, director of business development for Renewable Choice, said the idea is to allow consumers to choose renewable energy.
The card earned the Green-e product label from the Center for Resource Solutions, a nonprofit that verifies renewable energy claims, Mr. Rose said.
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Ontario’s attorney general and its Independent Electricity System Operator applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in January, according to the court’s website.
The province is trying to appeal a Court of Appeal for Ontario decision from November that said a legal challenge by Hamilton, Ont.-based National Steel Car Ltd. should be sent back to a lower-court for a full hearing.
Court reinstates constitutional challenge…
