Tami Wilson remembers what she said when she and her husband Randy learned last March that utility rates were going to increase by 30 percent. The mild-mannered Central PA resident, however, won’t repeat it. Needless to say, she was fired up.
“I think everybody needs a trigger point to get on the bandwagon, and that was the trigger point for us,” says Tami. “We decided then we would do what we could to cut our electric use.”
In the process, the Wilsons of tiny Susquehanna Township near Harrisburg made history. The Wilsons overhauled their home with a $58,000 solar electric system, reduced their energy use through a variety of cutbacks and modifications, and in January became the first in the world to sell a carbon credit they generated at home.
It is significant because carbon credits, which represent the value of a reduction or offset of greenhouse gas emissions, had heretofore been the domain of large companies seeking to finance carbon reduction projects between trading partners. Homes are energy guzzlers, responsible for close to one-sixth of total greenhouse gas emission in the U.S., so the Wilsons have set an example for billions globally.
As a result, the Wilsons have become quite the minor celebrities. Their story has been covered by
The New York Times,
The Financial Times, and publications in California, Canada,
Australia,
Taiwan, Spain and
Switzerland, to name a few.
“We put everything out there,” says Tami, who was more than willing to oblige the onslaught of interviews because she feels a responsibility to spread the message. “We don’t normally put our business out there like that.”
The Wilsons, though, came too far to slow down now.
The couple started by researching ways to reduce their energy use. They switched to more efficient CFL bulbs and became more conscious of powering down energy-sucking appliances. Before long, the family cut is energy use by 30 percent.
One of the biggest adjustments came from the Wilsons’ son, Rick Seidel, with perhaps some divine intervention. When his parents asked him to give up his heated waterbed, Seidel wasn’t initially sold on the idea. When the bed sprung a leak a couple weeks later, he was tired of the hassle of upkeep and ditched the bed.
“God was smiling at us,” says Tami.
The couple began researching solar and didn’t have to look far for a solution. The Wilsons liked the wide range of information that Revere, Bucks County-based
Heat Shed provided, and the 30 year-old company installed a system, including solar panels on the roof, in August.
Without a federal tax credit and state grant, Tami says there’s no way the family could have afforded solar. Now, she figures they’ll have achieved payback on the investment in about five years.
“When I see that, I say ‘Why isn’t everybody doing it?’” she says.
Heat Shed was also one of the few companies to talk to the Wilsons about solar renewable energy certificates (SREC), which represent one megawatt of energy generated that can be sold, traded or bartered. That got them thinking about carbon credits and after reading an article about
My Emissions Exchange, an online service that certifies household carbon reductions as carbon credits, the Wilsons signed up.
A month or so later, the Wilsons received an email from MyEx informing them they sold the first carbon credit, typically equal to one ton of carbon dioxide, for $17.20.
“It was kind of a fluke,” Tami says. “The SRECs were icing on the cake, and the carbon credit was sprinkles on the icing.”
Things haven’t changed much, however, around the Wilson household. Most nights, Randy will ask Tami if she remembered to turn the computer off. There’s the constant double-checking of power switches. And presumably there were nights this snowy winter where Seidel missed his heated waterbed. But the family is focused.
“We bought a 9,000-kilowatt system and we have it in our head we’re not going to pay PP&L anything,” says Tami. “It’s encouraging us to keep our use down.
“We’ve definitely been a little fanatical about it.”
While she and Randy have tried valiantly to spread their gospel, Tami believes that other early adopters might need more convincing.
“I don’t think right now the carbon credit payback is enough to get people motivated,” says Tami. “I think it’s going to depend on what our government does with cap and trade. Everybody needs that little carrot dangling in front of them. $17.20 might not do it for some people.”
What started as stubbornness has become a way of life--and a profitable one--for the Wilsons. Their energy bills are next to nothing, so they’re enjoying their own carrot.
“We’re waiting for June, July and August when we get some nice sunny days, look at the bills, and see that PP&L owes us money,” says Tami.
Joe Petrucci is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.To receive Keystone Edge free every week, click
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Photos:
Tami and Randy Wilson in their Susquehanna Twp. home
Solar roof panels atop the Wilson home
Tami installs an energy efficient bulb
The Wilsons monitor their energy use on their computer
All Photographs by Mike Bupp