With Christmas Eve here already tomorrow night, I’m enjoying every moment of the holiday season with our house decked out in lights and decorations. It will be time to take them down before we know it and really, I’d love for them to be up all year.
There is nothing like Christmas lights in the evening. I love seeing all of our neighbors’ houses lit up as well. We didn’t put a lot of lights outside this year, but we did add some.
The holiday season typically means we use extra energy keeping our houses all lit up and ready for Christmas. Did you know there is an environmentally friendly way to deck the halls?
Wind power is a renewable energy source that is becoming more and more available. As the nation’s No. 1 wind power provider for the past decade, Xcel Energy knows that wind energy is more than an environmental choice. Wind can help to keep energy rates affordable by protecting customers against rising fuel and other costs. Plus I really like the idea of leaving the earth a bit cleaner for my kids (and their animal friends) :).
Currently, Xcel Energy provides wind power solutions in Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Mexico. Teaching our kids not to be wasteful and to be thankful for all we have is challenging, but the holidays are a great time to have discussions. And I love the idea of incorporating wind power into our New Year’s Resolutions.
Facts about wind power
Windsource® enables Xcel Energy’s electric customers to purchase renewable energy, generated above and beyond the renewable energy in their standard energy supply. The program offers customers a choice on how they want to use energy. Business customers can use their Windsource participation toward LEED certification points, as well as displaying an overall green sensibility and respect for the environment. And adding Windsource to our homes is a nice way to put our values into practice.
You choose
Customers choose how much of their energy they’d like to get from Windsource. You can start with one block per month which is the equivalent of 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or about enough to power the lights in a typical home for a month. That’s pretty cool! Of course, you can also choose to get 100% of your energy from Windsource if you’d like.
Xcel Energy has nearly 5,300 megawatts of wind in their system, enough to power nearly 2.7 million average-size homes annually. I’d love to see that grow.
Fun facts!
Xcel Energy has been working with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, since late 2008, to develop a highly-detailed wind-forecasting system. By improving their ability to predict the wind, they have saved their customers about $46 million in fuel costs.
Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a huge environmentalist, I think Windsource speaks for itself. I love that Windsource takes advantage of our abundant natural resources like the wind and sun. So neat!
Other benefits of Windsource
Windsource supports affordable and domestic energy production that provides electricity price stability and prepares us for the future. It also increases local economic development for rural communities including jobs, tax revenue and income for landowners. And of course, we all benefit from a cleaner environment. It’s an easy, inexpensive way to support renewable energy.
Deck your halls without the guilt of waste. Sign up for wind power today.
Photos by Melissa Oholendt Photography.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Xcel Energy. The opinions and text are all mine.