A couple weeks ago I wrote about a naked protest directed at a proposed coal fired power plant being developed by energy conglomerate E.on.

 

E.on hired PR firm Edelman to help them develop a strategy for selling the public on the project using, among other arguments, the untested technological boondoggle of CO2 capture and storage. Seven green activist took their clothes off in Edelman's street level offices, held a banner up in the window and talked about the massive problems with coal power.

 

E.on is a giant corporation that has interests in all different types of energy, including wind.

 

It's a sign of how complicated the world of energy is that the same corporation who wants to build a power plant in the UK that would dump millions of tons of CO2 and other pollutants into the air has a division that is building a massive wind farm in Texas.

 

And it gets even more complicated when you consider that Renewable Choice Energy, a company I helped start back in 2001 (I remain a stockholder in the company), is working with Whole Foods to help fund that very same Texas wind farm.

 

Whole Foods recently announced that they are buying 776 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits (RECs) from Renewable Choice, equal to 100% of the electricity used in all of their stores and facilities (offices, bakeries, warehouses). 90% of their purchase will help fund E.on's Texas Panther Creek wind farm.

 

Whole Foods has been buying RECs to offset their electricity use from Renewable Choice since 2006, the Boulder store (where Renewable Choice is located) started buying a couple years before that.

 

Their purchase will help avoid up to 868 million pounds of CO2, equal to taking 72,000 cars off the road.

 

You can read more details over at Forbes.

 

Congrats to everyone at both Renewable Choice and Whole Foods!