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Two of the windmills that produce our electricity.
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As of January 1, 2002, the White Dog Cafe and The Black Cat purchase 100% of our electricity from wind power, amounting to 360,000 kilowatts per year. By switching to pollution-free wind power, we save the emission of approximately 432,000 lbs. of Carbon Dioxide, a major cause of global warming. This is the equivalent of taking 31 cars off the road or planting 30,000 trees a year. We also save the emission of approximately 1,000 lbs. of Nitrogen Oxide and 3,000 lbs. of Sulfur Dioxide, which contribute to smog and acid rain.
Do we have a windmill on our roof?
No, our wind energy comes from a wind farm located in Somerset, PA – about 3 hours west of Philadelphia. Windmills can only be placed where the wind is strong and steady enough to produce electricity, which is not the case in Philadelphia.
How does the electricity get to the cafe?
All electricity produced in the region from all sources - windmills, coal burning, natural gas, nuclear etc.- is put onto "the grid." The Mid-Atlantic grid is like a big community soup pot that each house and business in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland dips into to get their electricity. There is only one grid per region and only one company controls the whole grid. In our area PECO controls the grid. They monitor how much electricity each home or business uses and bills them to replace that amount back on to the grid.
A few states, including PA, have deregulated their electricity. This means that you can choose to pay someone other than the company who controls the grid to replace the electricity you use. (Think about your long distance for your phone. Verizon controls the lines that go to your house, but you can choose to pay any number of long distance providers for your service.) Our provider is Community Energy, the only wind provider in Pennsylvania. PECO tells Community Energy how much electricity we’ve used then we pay Community Energy to produce only clean wind energy to replace the electricity we took off the grid.
Because there is only one grid for our region and all the electricity from all sources gets mixed up like a big soup pot, we can not specify that the individual electrons coming into the Cafe are only from one producer. However, we are only paying for wind powered electricity. All the electricity we need to run the Cafe – the air conditioning, lights, mixers, computers and all electrical appliances – is purchased from a wind producer. Because we are paying only for clean, renewable wind power, we are displacing that amount of polluting energy sources on the grid, thereby saving that amount of pollution from being emitted into the air.
Why are we willing to pay more for wind power?
We pay a 15% premium for wind power, which amounts to approximately $7,000 annually. Although we hope to offset some of this expense by decreasing the amount of electricity we use through conservation practices and new technology, we will be paying more for clean energy, at least in the beginning. We see this as an investment in a sustainable future. Global warming threatens the very existence of life on earth. By stepping forward as a leader in clean energy use, the White Dog is demonstrating that it can be done – that we can make a difference.
Rather than sitting helplessly by, while our environment is destroyed, we can be a part of the solution, and encourage other businesses and consumers to join in. The more people invest in wind power, the greater effect we will have in stopping global warming, as well as lowering the cost of energy for everyone. (If no one invests in new technology, the technology dies. For instance, if no one bought computers when they were major investments that occupied entire rooms, we wouldn’t have the relatively inexpensive laptops that we enjoy today.)
The decision to switch to higher priced wind energy is part of our business philosophy – when making business decisions, maximizing profits is not the ultimate goal. Rather, our mission is to better serve our world – community, customers, employees and nature. Ultimately, our success is not measured monetarily, but by the way in which we have enriched community life and natural life. We believe this adds to long-term profitability. The decision to buy clean energy helps us achieve our mission, and a healthy natural environment is essential for economic vitality.
