How to Stuff a Stocking with Renewable Energy
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California 
on 11.24.08
Photo via Powered Green
Two students from the University of Wisconsin decided that the most important holiday gift to give is renewable energy. So they figured out how to make it a tangible gift.
For $16, you can get a Wind Energy Sponsorship from Powered Green, their company, which goes towards putting up wind turbines.
One sponsorship pays for essentially 690 kilowatt-hours of certified wind energy, helping to prevent greenhouse gas emissions, support renewables, and offset a laptop's energy consumption. A $28 sponsorship does the same for a desktop.
So the gift, really, is the prevention of about 1000 pounds of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere and the production of renewable wind energy. But what goes in the stocking?
You get an energy certificate and a “Powered Green” emblem that can go on a computer, showing the person’s commitment to sustainable energy sources. What nice peace of mind to give someone you love – that their computer use is in some way supporting wind energy.
Just another clean green gift idea to think about giving this season.
More on Green Gift Giving
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Give Green to Save Green
Holiday Gift Guide: For the Green Geek
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This is not a new idea. I have been doing this for years with a company out of Colorado which also puts up wind turbines. In fact our wedding favor was actually travel offsets individualized to each person that attended, and our wedding was in 2004.
Nice effort, of course, but not news.
Excellent job! I appreciate your good work. Keep up.