We recently had a consultation from Power Trip Energy about our capability to install solar panels here at Stillwaters. We could greatly decrease our fossil fuel energy consumption with solar panels on a couple of our roofs.

Have you ever checked in your electric bill flyers to see how much of the electricity you use is coming from fossil fuel sources like coal burning or natural gas? For Puget Sound Energy, that is about 56 percent. We used to think that our power in the Northwest all came from hydroelectric dams, but that is not the case anymore.

What is great about solar power or wind power or wave/water power is that they are renewable. With renewable resources, we are using the powers of the current Earth and its systems, not the “ancient sunlight” of thousands of years ago, which cannot be replaced quickly. We do not rob the Earth of any of its resources when we “borrow” the power of its forces.

If you have Puget Sound Energy, you know that you have the option of requesting all of your power come from green sources for about a penny a kilowatt hour. The benefit of doing that is about equivalent of taking one car off the road for a whole year. Amazing, huh?

But using all solar power, or as much as we can, will do even better.

So we will soon find out what it will cost to get solar power here, including getting an electric vehicle charger. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to swing into Stillwaters for an event or class and charge up your car at the same time? Or leave your car here to charge up while you go up the street to the dentist or the fitness center?

If your power is coming from renewable sources, you can drive totally carbon free in an electric car. Even if some of your power is from fossil fuels, you will still be cleaner overall than a car that gets 50 MPG. The only drawback we can see for not having an electric car, currently, is that there are not enough charging stations to be able to go wherever you want to go. But that day will come soon, we hope.

Consider the importance of cutting your fossil fuel consumption as we hear from Dr. James Overland of NOAA on May 7. He will be bringing us up to date on his observations on climate change, and we are so pleased that he volunteers his time to Stillwaters in this way.

You can get a lot more information on solar power and all things sustainable at EcoFest on May 31 at Stillwaters. If you have any questions or need more information, check the listing in this paper or call Stillwaters at 360-297-1226. If you decide it’s time to check out solar power, call Power Trip Energy at 360-643-3080.

Information from Union of Concerned Scientists and Stillwaters Environmental Center.

Stillwaters will be hosting a new Sustainability Discussion Group in the future. If you are interested in getting on the notification list, call us at 360-297-1226.

— Naomi Maasberg is director of Stillwaters Environmental Learning Center. Contact her at  naomi@stillwatersenvironmentalcenter.org.