How You Can Invest in Renewable Resources...

I am no financier or investment banker, but I do feel passionate about the growth of renewable resources and thankfully I am not alone. With varying motivators including climate change, ecological damage, and ethical sourcing a variety of sectors have gotten their hands dirty with renewables. As an individual consumer, it can be difficult to feel like you are in the driver's seat when it comes to your energy sources. So for this Earth Day, how about making a pledge to match your energy consumption with an investment in renewable energy? It's as easy as grabbing your energy bill, clicking a few buttons, and then joining the thousands who have signed a pledge to purchase clean energy.

There was a time energy from renewable resources was hard to come by. Thankfully, those days are over for most of us. The quickfind program offered by the Center for Resource Solutions only needs your zip code to find a renewable energy source available in your region. Depending on your provider you can either switch your energy source, or you can offset it with an equivalent investment in renewable resources for energy. The latter option, commonly used by city dwellers, takes the amount of energy used monthly by your household and does one of two things. The first option is to invest the few dollars more in renewable energy development for your area. The second option is to offset your household or business's energy by purchasing renewable energy from another area. Any way you cut it, renewable energy will be gaining a significant market advantage the more people that switch.

The Buy Clean Energy Campaign is aimed at ethical consumers, such as yourself, to help us easily learn about, locate, and then purchase clean energy in our areas with an added bonus. The Campaign, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, has a Clean Energy Pledge that you can sign with your reason for why you choose to commit to Clean Energy. They have set a goal for, drum roll please:

ONE BILLION KILOWATT HOURS

If you would like to help them achieve this goal, you can find their campaign under Buy Clean Energy. It is open for individual consumers, organizations, and businesses alike. The renewable resources are certified sources of renewable energy, an important differentiation in today's growing energy market.

The best part about all of this is that it springs us into action to not only think and talk about clean energy, but to actually invest in it for our personal lives. There are plenty of in-home energy fixes as well that can help reduce energy consumption, or supply alternative forms of energy within your house. As the market for renewable resources continues to grow through small steps like this, their prices should drop, our energy consumption will hopefully also decline, and overall we will be helping ourselves create a better future. Cheers to the ethical consumer investing in clean energy!

Photo Credit: Buy Clean Energy