Power consumed in *your* home - how can you tell where the energy comes from?

Question

Power consumed in *your* home - how can you tell where the energy comes from?

I already called my electric company. The representatives I spoke to were completely clueless and told me there was no way they could give me this information, since they didnt know and they had no way to find out themselves.

So...say you live in Gary, Indiani, or Middlesex, New York, or Orange County, California...or, even better yet - say that you DON'T live in any of those places, but you still want to know where those places get their energy - just how can you find that out?

Links welcome - thanks guys!!!

Answer 1

You may want to read your energy company's annual report - they will usually have some description of where they derive their energy from and how much of it is from traditional vs. alternative sources.  These reports are often available online.  Some of the more progressive energy companies (2 here in Wisconsin that I personally know of) also offer their customers the option of purchasing some or all of their power from alternative sources.  Costs a little more, but it is the right thing to do.

Answer 2

Short answer is: you can't.

Longer answer: the power comes from all over the country.  Electric utilities are heavily interconnected.  The only thing that separates them, really, is miles of transmission line.  Theoretically, if all that wire had exactly zero resistance, it'd be possible to power a house in New York from a plant in Florida.  And actually, the power companies do buy power from each other - there's a sort of commodities market among utilities, buying and selling capacity.

So, your local utility company rep was right - they can't tell you specifically where the power comes from because it comes from wind and coal and gas and water and solar and nuclear; whoever is connected to the grid and generating.  Your utility company may not even have any generating capability - mine doesn't.  We buy power from TVA (coal, hydro, nuke, and wind).  But TVA also buys power from Florida Power and Light, The Southern Company, Progress, Duke, and others...  Or it could come from the guy down the street who has a grid-tie solar rig on his roof and happens to be generating a few more kW than he's using.