Local architect Stephen Colley jumped at the chance to pay more for his electricity on the first day he was able to do so.

That's right, he volunteered to pay higher electric rates.

So have hundreds of thousands of others around the country, and more are doing so every day, paying a premium to buy "green" energy and reduce the release of greenhouse gases.

Colley signed up for CPS Energy's Windtricity program in April 2000 on the day the program started. For an added $3 on his bill, he buys 100 kilowatt-hours per month of wind power, about 10 percent of the average demand of a residential CPS Energy customer.

"I guess I do it for the same reason people are willing to pay more for a Prius (the hybrid car made by Toyota), even though they may not get back that extra cost in the use of the car," Colley said.

It's easy to talk about the need to address global warming, but Colley puts his money where his mouth is.

Chase Thalman, director of operations at the Aveda Institute, a cosmetology school at the old Pearl Brewery complex, also signed up to get about 10 percent of the electricity for the institute's 26,000-square-foot building from the Windtricity program.

He plans to sign up his house, now under construction, when it is completed.

"It was a good opportunity for us to get involved in something we believe in," Thalman said. "I definitely think that any time you can make use of a sustainable and clean energy, and a source of energy not dependent on other countries to supply us, it's something you should do."

With public awareness of global warming increasing and growing consensus among scientists that the problem is caused by greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, more people are willing to dip into their pockets to reduce their personal "carbon footprint," the amount of greenhouse gases produced to support their lifestyle.

Matt Haecker, energy efficiency and renewables analyst at CPS Energy, would not say exactly how many people and businesses have signed up for the Windtricity program, but that it has grown 30 percent this year alone.

Wind power, supplied by West Texas windmill farms, still provides less than 1 percent of the electricity sold by CPS Energy, but Haecker said he expects it to grow even faster next year.

Every time a new customer signs up for the Windtricity program, CPS Energy buys a little more wind power and relies a little less on coal and natural gas to supply its customers.

Of course, there is no way to channel the electricity produced by the windmills to specific homes. But for every new Windtricity customer, the mix in the overall power grid is a little more green.

CPS Energy customers can buy 100 kwh blocks of wind power for $3 each — the fee is to offset the extra cost of wind-generated power — and can get as many blocks as they want.

Haecker said that after an initial marketing push in 2000, the program "didn't get the attention it needed" for a few years, and sales fell off. But the city-owned utility is promoting it again at special events and with mailers.

He expects more interest next year because CPS Energy is planning to relaunch and market the program with a new pricing structure in the spring. The changes will have to be approved by the City Council first.

When CPS Energy started the program, it was one of just 43 such renewable energy efforts around the country. Today, there are more than 600, and utilities in Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington are required by law to offer customers such programs.

As a result, U.S. renewable energy sales leaped 36 percent between 2004 and 2005, the most recent year for which complete figures are available, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory at the Energy Department. More than 430,000 customers are participating, driving green power sales that topped 2.7 billion kwh last year.

Experts expect that number to grow even faster this year, and not just because of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and other publicity about global warming. Higher costs for conventional energy mean the premium for green power is dropping, said Blair Swezey, NREL policy adviser.

His agency rates Austin's GreenChoice program the best in the country, with 665 million kwh sold last year. The program is so popular that it has been closed to new customers while Austin Energy negotiates to buy more power from renewable sources.

Pedernales Electric Cooperative, which serves a large swath of the Hill Country, also began a renewable energy program this year, which provides a mix of hydroelectric and wind power for a premium of 2 cents per kwh on top of the usual 8.22-cent cost.

PEC also would not give specific numbers on how many have signed up.

"We've been very pleased with the response," said spokeswoman Anne Harvey. "We do lots of publicity for it. We did a large kickoff program with TV and newspaper ads, and it will be in our in house magazine next month."
rcroteau@express-news.net