It Isn't Easy Being Green? Well, It's Not Exactly Difficult.

Today, I went to the "Hello, Again" event down in Wynwood.  The idea is to welcome back, or say "Hello, Again" to, The Lincoln Motor Company.  They had their pretty boys and pretty girls to greet you and take you on a little driving tour of Wynwood.  Their car (the new Lincoln), you drive.  They intended a bit of a caravan, but the only ones who showed up were Chuck Ross and I.

Chuck and I drove the newest Lincoln, which is a hybrid.  It's a wonderful car, if you like luxury and automatic transmission.  Not my personal style, but undeniably pleasing.  The car was extremely comfortable, though you have to get used to the controls for things, it had a great feel to the ride, and it was admirably powerful.  And it gets 45 mpg, highway or city.  And it has a base sticker price of about $37K, which is stripped down to almost every luxury feature you can think of.  If you wanted what they didn't put in the base price, it would cost you about $3K more.  The only feature that wasn't included and which actually costs something, is the semi-retracting roof, which gives much more exposure than a regular sunroof.  We saw one: terrific.

They're very eager for company down at the Lincoln event, and very happy to see you.  You get introductory coffee or bottled water, the test drive, a driving tour of outdoor art/murals (they drive in their own Lincoln ahead of you, and communicate with you by walkie-talkie), a stop at the Wynwood Cigar Factory, and a going away favor.  You get your choice of which present you want: a bag of coffee beans, a cigar from the Wynwood factory, or a free admission for two to any event at RAW, which is some sort of art exposition.  The Lincoln event started on May 16, and the last day is June 2.  If you're interested, you can call them at 800-374-7568.  I recommend it.

In today's e-mail, I got an offer from a company called Pear Energy.  I'll tell you right now, it's a weird offer. Pear Energy doesn't do anything itself.  It is strictly a middleman.  What these people do is funnel money to wind farms in the midwest of the US, so those wind farms can be stable and expand their operations.  All electricity in the country goes into the same grid, so it doesn't matter who puts it there or who uses is.  It's all the same electricity.  So here's what Pear Energy "offers" to do.  If you sign up with them, they will become your electric company.  They will send you an electric bill every month.  That bill will cover your electric usage for the month, billed at the same rate you're paying now, and Pear Energy will add on 2 cents per kilowatt hour.  Those two cents go to pay Pear, and to pay the wind farmers.  So the lines are the same, and the electricity is the same. The only things that are different are that you agree to pay more for the same electricity you're already getting, and you get to feel good knowing there is increasing support for wind farms in the midwest.  In case you're interested, my electric bill would increase by about $11 for my last bill, which was $62, and as much as about $22, for my highest bill in the last year, which was last August and was about $120.

So if it wouldn't make you feel good to know you're contributing to the growth of the green electric industry, you have no reason to do this.  If it would, go for it.  Pear Energy doesn't compete with FPL, and it pays their full bill, just as you would.  The only imaginable advantage is that if enough people joined this scheme, and demonstrated that green sources of electricity are important to them and worth paying extra for, maybe FPL, for example, would build windmills, instead of burning stuff.  It's a pretty weak argument, I know, but it's all there is.  Pear Energy's number is 877-969-7327.  They only have three offices: DC, Massachusetts, and just off Lincoln Road on Miami Beach.