by the Way . . .

Environmentalists everywhere are cheering Vail Resorts’ move to 100% wind power. Not only that, but Vail is encouraging visitors to convert at home, giving out free ski passes to those who sign up. But don’t worry about running into those big poles on your way down the slope (or in your back yard if you sign up). Here is the way the NYT explains it:

“Buying wind, though, will not mean building mountain windmills. Rather [Vail will] buy the equivalent amount of their energy needs in wind power credits from a Boulder company called Renewable Choice Energy. Renewable Choice will then buy wind power from producers – mainly in Minnesota, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota - and inject the amount of power Vail uses into the national electric grid.”

Now the power Vail actually uses will still be generated locally, mostly by coal-fired generators. The good news is that individuals who sign up don’t have to change providers. They will still pay their regular electric bill. Those “switching” to wind power just pay an extra $15 a month to Renewable Choice, which will “buy credits for the amount of wind used by their household”. Now get this, that $15 gets you all you can use! It is a flat fee, regardless of how much wind you gobble up. Makes you wonder how they can do that!

What happens to your wind if you don’t sign up? Should you feel guilty? Well, yes, but not why you think. It turns out that the government requires the utilities to buy all the wind power produced in their area and put it in the national grid. Without that, your wind would be wasted, in fact, not harvested at all. Think about how wind mills work. The wind blows, you get power, it stops, you don’t. The utility (and the customers) can’t wait for an ill wind. It has to keep generating a regular supply (the old way) or your lights (and the ski lift) will only be on when the wind was blowing. So kind of like a sail boat, which has to have a backup motor, the utility has to have the ability to supply all the power demanded from its coal fired plants regardless of how much juice comes in from the wind farm. When the wind does blow, the utility simply operates its “backup” plants as less than full power, which is inefficient. The total cost to the utility, given this inefficiency and what it is required to pay the wind farmer, actually goes up when the wind blows. The utility is not one of those whom the ill wind blows good. Entrepreneurs, not utilities, build wind farms.

There are important reasons to buy one of those Vail wind packages. The Vail CEO says visitors expect high environments standards when deciding where to spend their money. “It’s a way to get closer to our guests” he says. But what about you as an individual? For most, just doing good is rewarding. Remember the old deal the Catholic Church had going, where you could buy indulgences to spring someone from purgatory early? It was wise to buy even if you didn’t have any relatives on the inside. Unspent indulgences were like wind credits, and could be used later for a besmirched loved one, or even yourself, heaven forbid. Nowadays you hear more about buying pollution credits, “carbon offsets”, and wind credits, but the principle is the same.

If you don’t believe in that sort of thing, consider the politics. Your wind credit money will ultimately encourage the building of more wind farms. How you say, considering that it goes to Renewable Choice and the utility who owns the power, having been required to purchase it? Remember what we said about the total cost to the utility going up when the wind blows? That happens only when nobody like you or Vail signs up. Buy enough wind credits and the utility starts to like wind power. At the next “not in my back yard” protest, you may find the utility CEO on the opposite side from Ted Kennedy