One super easy change we made to get greener was transitioning to a renewable energy provider, in our case East Bay Community Energy. We did the same when we lived in NYC and we bought energy from Green Mountain Energy.
Changing energy providers away from the well-known and (relatively) trusted PG&E sounds scary. Why would you trust all the power in your home to a community provider that you've never heard of? That's what I thought, but it's not like that at all.
You see, PG&E is still delivers our energy. They repairs issues and send us our invoice. But the underlying electricity is provided by a 3rd party who purchases100% renewable energy from wind and solar.
Making this change is WAY easier than it sounds to. You fill out a web form. There is no step 2.
In the form, I could choose 100% renewable for slightly more money, or a mix for slightly less. We went with the former. It's unfortunate that getting energy from EBCE (or similar community provider) is more expensive than getting directly from PG&E. Having to pay a premium to switch to renewables -- with no change in lifestyle or performance -- is a shame, and hopefully this will change over time and come down in price.
The be clear, the actual difference in our utility bill is completely negligible - literally pennies different (after our rooftop solar). But it's a bummer when trying to convince others to make the change. It's WAY easier to convince someone when the pitch it "and it's cheaper" or "and you'll have no change in price" and not "well... um... technically it's more expensive."
But this is such an easy change for anyone to make -- there's no reason not to make this change yourself today.
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