Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
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- Time for a Turnaround
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What’s in your windpower? Xcel Windsource is more than just wind.
Xcel Energy's Ponnequin Wind Farm
Are you powered with 100 percent wind? (Are you sure?)
If you get your wind power through Xcel Energy in Colorado by subscribing to the company’s popular Windsource program, you’re getting mostly wind, but you’re also getting some of your electricity from hydroelectric (about 7 percent), solar (about 2 percent) and biomass (about 1 percent).
This, of course, doesn’t bother many renewable energy supporters, but it does beg the question: should Xcel change that program’s name? Tireless Xcel watchdog Leslie Glustrom thinks they should — not just because the program is more than wind, but also because the program’s past missteps may have tarnished the brand. (Glustrom has filed a request with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission asking that the name be reconsidered.)
Xcel launched Windsource in 1997 (after Boulder activists begged, and arm-twisted, and organized to get a renewable energy options). So Xcel built a wind farm and started selling subscriptions. The program was so popular, that it was soon sold out…. but Xcel just kept on selling. Eventually, once the Public Utilities Commission found out about the oversold subscriptions, Xcel was forced to reorganize. To make up for the lack of turbines, the company added solar, hydro and biomass to its portfolio. But the word was out, and between fall of 2008 and fall of 2009, Windsource lost 10 percent of its residential subscribers.
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I found this page while looking for information on Xcel’s Windsource program. I found it interesting that you indicated that the drop in enrollment in the program was due to bad PR. If memory serves we entered a global recession between the fall of 08 and the fall of 09. It seems to me that would have a significant impact on that statistic, so attributing it to distrust of the brand is inaccurate.