Rid the Electricity Grid of CO2 with Green Plans

Posted by: Frank Eakin |

Climate change will have a profound impact on our nation, world and future generations, on a scale unlike any other catastrophe in recorded history. As we witness the effects of climate change in changing weather patterns, flooding and fires, a consensus is building that society must take action.

Home Energy Club is leading the fight in Texas against climate change in the electricity industry by creating grid parity on a mass scale, bringing together the major electric company brands of home energy in deregulated states to offer 100% renewable energy plans at cheaper electricity rates than fossil-sourced energy plans to reduce CO2. Learn more about how your energy plan choices impact CO2 emissions and painless ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and save money doing it.

Check out a sampling of the low-cost green energy rates of Gexa, Green Mountain and Pulse Power you’ll find on Home Energy Club (all plans from Gexa and Green Mountain are 100% renewable).

Your conscious consumption can reduce CO2 in the environment

While we are encouraged to take individual action, such as planting trees to reduce CO2 and recycling to reduce production of fossil-based materials, some economists argue individual action will have virtually no impact, and will in fact cause citizens to become complacent in relation to support of large government initiatives that can materially reduce carbon emissions, in the belief that they are doing all that is needed with their private efforts. David Wallace-Wells, in his book ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’, talks of conscious consumption as a cop-out, and argues that individual efforts only divert attention from the task of bringing out major policy changes.

However, another school of thought is that individuals can make a difference by building mass awareness and initiating mass adoption of climate-friendly behavior through environmental activism. While no singular effort is going to reverse the effects of climate change, citizens collectively participating in “conscious consumption” can reduce the use of carbon products and bring about a reduction in greenhouse gases.

For example, if buying a Ford hybrid electric vehicle can reduce carbon emissions, it won’t have a substantive effect if only a small number of buyers purchase a hybrid. However, if a high percentage of citizens across communities collectively decide to buy cars that operate off of non-carbon sourced energy for a common cause, a substantial impact can occur.

Your steps to cut CO2 can cause a ripple and then a wave

Collective action starts with baby steps before reaching a pivot point of exponential growth. Humans are social creatures and an important factor called “behavioral contagion” can have the effect of spreading consumer purchase behaviors through populations. In other words, a snowballing of small individual actions can occur based on the psychology of a herd effect, in which citizens follow the actions of influencers, including everyone from celebrities to politicians, from teachers to family members and neighbors.

We decide to take action not only based on personal preferences, but also on social comparison and peers reputations. We also take into consideration how our actions can have greater influences. According to a study by economists at UCLA, it was found that people were 12% more likely to purchase a car on a particular day if one of their 10 nearest neighbors had purchased one during the preceding ten days. In another study by American economists, it was found that people spend money to demonstrate their eco-consciousness in a phenomenon called “environmental status signaling”.

Peer influence and reputational considerations play a major role in conscious consumerism. Carmakers are selling more hybrid cars than ever before in part because of social contagion. In the minds of consumers, buying hybrid cars to reduce their carbon footprint is significantly more visible to neighbors than supporting carbon offsets.

The visibility of actions increase the chances of influencing others. The collective purchases of hybrid cars will bring about a reduction in carbon dioxide levels, and is also a crucial step in moving to the adoption of electric cars, which can operate on electricity from renewable energy sources and help to rid the electric grid from carbon.

Another area where one can observe the impact of behavioral contagion is the adoption of renewable energy for home electricity. A review of the rooftops of homes on Google Earth reveal that houses with solar panels are clustered together. Every new installation of solar panels stimulates another one, and the rate of growth can become exponential. The personal act of purchasing a solar roof can therefore have a ripple effect, and also deepen the identity of citizens as climate champions.

You can begin to safeguard the planet by taking small steps to lower your carbon footprint. Eco-friendly habits eventually become a daily lifestyle, and you will encourage these habits and mindset in others, which will reduce carbon emissions on a larger scale.

How you can help us rid the energy grid of CO2

Home Energy Club encourages small individual actions to combat climate change by homeowners in deregulated energy states, which collectively can significantly reduce CO2. The consumer is required simply to choose a 100% renewable energy plan instead of a fossil-sourced plan from electric companies on HEC’s comparison platform. Enrolling in a green plan is not only convenient, requiring less than 10 minutes to enroll (the same amount of time to enroll in a fossil plan), but is also financially painless, requiring no investment in solar panels or other equipment, and actually costing less than fossil plans. Consumers can actually pay a lower electricity rate and save money money on their monthly energy bills, and the plans are offered by big brand electric companies, such as Gexa Energy, which consumers trust.

There are many deregulated states in the U.S. where homeowners and companies have a choice of electric companies and energy plans. If individuals in these states take the step of switching to 100% renewable energy plans and share the news of convenient carbon reduction and electricity rate savings with their neighbors, behavioral contagion could result in large amounts of carbon dioxide emission reductions in the coming decade.

Home Energy Club is based in Texas and licensed in all major deregulated states. Our green energy plans not only address your individual electricity needs with trusted electric companies, low energy rates and vetted plans, but also address our planet’s needs to protect it for our children and the millions of species threatened by climate disruption.