A group of Mercer Island residents met at the community center last Wednesday to launch the “Campaign for Mercer Island’s 100% Clean Energy Future.” Currently, 37 percent of the Island’s power comes from a coal-burning plant in Colstrip, Montana.
The meeting on Nov. 29 was organized by 100% Clean Energy-MI, a subcommittee of Sustainable-MI, an informal group of Island residents who advise Sustainability Manager Ross Freeman. Their goals are to call on Puget Sound Energy (PSE) to transition off fossil fuels on an expedited timeline, to ensure that all of Mercer Island is powered by 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035, and to educate and engage the community around these issues.
“Fighting for renewable energy gives me hope,” said campaign co-chair Kim Rice, a retired physician and longtime Island resident. “I’m thinking of the world we’re going to leave to our grandchildren. This is something we can do locally that will make a significant impact. Clean energy technology is getting better and cheaper every year, making this more feasible than in the past.”
One of the points made at Wednesday’s meeting was that if the grid is “dirty,” i.e. powered by fossil fuels, an electric car charged off that grid may not be doing as little damage environmentally as owners assume. And while opting into PSE’s voluntary Green Power program does help fund new regional clean energy projects, it doesn’t mean that the supply to an individual’s home is 100 percent green.
The committee’s first step will be appealing to the City Council to make sustainability a top priority in the next two years. The campaign could be a key pillar of the city’s overall sustainability plan.
Other topics discussed were residential solar, community solar and looking to other Northwest communities — including Edmonds and Portland — that have committed to 100 percent renewable energy on varying timelines.
The meeting was attended by 16 Island residents and by representatives from advisory organizations Audubon Washington, Environment Washington, Sierra Club and Washington Women for Climate Action Now.
For more information or to join the campaign, see www.washingtonwomencan.org/100-percent-clean-mercer-island.
