Off the Grid: 1st American City Powered by Renewables

Burlington, Vermont has become the first American city powered solely by renewable energy.  Thirty years ago, the city purchased the Joseph C. McNeil Generating Station, which runs off biofuel from burning wood, a green alternative to coal.  As a result, the plant generates a third of the city’s energy without polluting the air.  The city's remaining energy is supplied by wind turbines, solar panels, and hydropower plants.

According to an article by TriplePundit.Com, Burlington is a great example for other cities to look at when planning energy operations.  The article says, 

“The fact that Burlington has been able to do this without raising rates since 2009 — while saving the city about $20 million over the next 20 years — creates a case study for communities that are interested in investing in renewables but skittish about making such an aggressive move."

For city planners who don't think their own cities have the right geography, Taylor Ricketts, a Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Vermont, says geography doesn't matter.  He told PBS, 

“What Burlington’s done could be replicated elsewhere — it’s not some quirk of geography or weather that got the city to where it is now.  There’s nothing magic about Burlington in terms of where it sits. It’s not a lot windier here, or a lot more rivers here, and certainly not a lot sunnier here than lots of parts of the U.S. It was just a bunch of decisions made over ten years or more, to get towards renewable energy.”

Hopefully more cities will follow suit and do their part to ease climate change.  We need more plans for renewable energy to get us away from using fossil fuels.  To find out why fossil fuels are bad, check out the Governor's video about the Keystone Pipeline below.