Worried over winter highs and the approach of summer making your energy bill skyrocket? Despite common miscalculations regarding the cost of using renewable energy in your home, the Texas Public Utility Commission points to more than 20 renewable energy plans available in North Texas, showing that going green doesn't necessarily mean fewer options. The plans vary from 100 percent renewable to smaller percentages of the electricity derived from clean resources.

The average cost of said plans were 12.3 cents per kilowatt-hour as of late November, with fossil-fuel electricity plans running an 11.5 cents per kilowatt-hour average in Texas—about $12 per month difference.

With 1,185 megawatts of wind capacity already added in 2007 alone, and more anticipated to come, Texas electricity customers have access to a growing renewable energy marketplace, and a competitive one at that. Year to year, purchasing renewable energy in Texas becomes more convenient, and cheaper, giving customers access to the latest in green power technology, and a chance to help protect the environment.

Forgive the horrible historical reference in the title— and I mean no disrespect to the UK— but I couldn't help but instill a bit of bad humor in my weekly forays into the blogging world. Anyways, back to the mother ship here.

The UK's coastal areas could see a major upgrade in renewable energy production. Though the proposals are just, well, proposals at this juncture, the UK government is serious about bolstering it's wind power production by 2020. Offshore wind farms could begin dotting the landscape like seashells by the seashore, with an estimated 33 GW of wind energy powering nearly 25 million homes.

The move is bold. It's plausible, considering that there are ample wind resources on UK shorelines, and government plans to target a 20 percent renewable energy production by 2020 means that they could well be on their way to setting the global bar for wind power.

The United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) convened in Bali, Indonesia in early December to discuss life after the Kyoto Protocol. The legally binding, mandatory carbon emission limits set in 1997 are due to expire in 2012, leaving climate change gurus under intense pressure to move forward with tangible answers to the global warming threat.

It's evident that the UNFCCC is serious about renewable energy, as Yvo de Boer—Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC— stated clearly that renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency and biofuel are significant, if not critical, options to curb global warming.

An emissions manager for BP was also cited in a press release promoting the examination of CO2 Capture and geological Storage (CCS) technology as an industrial-scale investment for carbon emission reductions over the next 50 years and beyond.

CCS decarbonizes fossil fuels, capturing nearly 90 percent of the harmful greenhouse gas, apparently allowing power plants to continue burning fuels while significantly reducing carbon emissions. Fossil fuel consumption contributes more than 3/4 of the United States' carbon emissions, so the idea would certainly warrant consideration, but the fact still remains that fossil fuels are not inexhaustible, leaving no option for renewing these resources for future energy production. Much of the examination into CSS will revolve around such issues, in addition to determining the long-term investment building and operating CSS technology on a global scale would require.

Give the gift of green this holiday season. With MXenergy's Project GreenGift offering a unique way to both go green, and offer a friendly green gift for those who matter most, it's easy to join the fight against global warming for a just a few dollars per year.

The program allows you to purchase a tree to be planted by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai (CSK) Tribes in the State of Montana, with the idea that said tree will offset a portion of carbon emissions. Your lucky recipient receives a certificate from Sustainable Forestry Management Ltd. (SFM) showing the environmental benefits associated with the tree's planting, specifically the carbon emissions offset for one year.

The biggest advantage of Project GreenGift is the ability to choose which aspect of your recipient's daily life that you want to offset. Whether it be transportation, electricity usage or complete lifestyle offset, the results are the same. Trees are being added in your recipient's name, helping the Earth's natural filtration system change harmful carbon dioxide to precious oxygen. That's a simple and unique way to make the world just a little bit greener.

The recently formed Make It Right Foundation is pushing it's unique architectural and artistic concepts as a means to build 150 new homes for resident of New Orleans Lower 9th Ward, devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The concept was formed while Pitt was on location for a film, and is currently a series of decorated building components—roofs, walls, foundations, etc.—draped in pink material to create a unique visual representation of the new neighborhood Pitt and the foundation hope to build. Each individual home is environmentally efficient, utilizing solar and wind energy to reduce utility costs by nearly 65 percent.

Pitt has pledged $5 million of his own money, with estimated cost of each home running about $150,000. There is also options for donors to purchase green products for NOLA residents, ranging from solar paneling to low-flush toilets. In a recent interview with NBC's Today, Pitt expressed his desire to eventually create these homes to be completely self-sustaining, using and possibly generating completely renewable energy from the Earth's natural resources—Sun, wind and water.

A growing trend in Texas, the U.S. and the rest of the world is seeing wind power production grow rapidly. The U.S. currently has nearly 14,000 megawatts (MW) of installed wind power capacity, and current research should see significant increase in wind power portfolios over the next decade.

So what is it about wind power that should intrigue you enough to consider switching? Here are a few major reasons that should entice you:

• No emissions
• Helpful to local farmers by producing additional income for building turbines and access roads on local land
• According the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), there is currently 13,884 MW of available wind power in the U.S., enough to power 3.8 million homes.
• Estimated savings of 19 million tons of carbon dioxide per year
• Displaces the use of traditional fossil fuels for producing electricity
• Entirely renewable resource—wind never runs out!

These are but the tip of the iceberg as far as the benefits of wind power. Nearly 20 percent of the total energy production in Denmark comes from wind; that's a considerable chunk of their energy portfolio considering wind power counts for just over 1 percent of global energy.

Regardless of numbers and statistics measuring CURRENT wind production, the fact remains that the potential is evidently greater than many may realize. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) figured 74,223 megawatts of total energy capacity in 2006, nearly a 16,000 MW increase in one year. The questions is, are you and the rest of the world willing to consider wind as a viable option for powering our everyday lives? Wind is plentiful; it is simply waiting for a home.