Rising oil prices inspire alternative thinking.

Consumers throughout the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states in recent weeks have seen the soaring price of gasoline and home heating oil bust the family budget, forcing agonizing trade-offs between placing food on the table, purchasing necessary prescription medications, and heating one's home. Various elected officials have proposed temporary assistance measures, while others have directed their scorn against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel. But 1st Rochdale Cooperative Group, Ltd., one of the fastest-growing energy services companies in the New York metropolitan area, has proposed a long-range plan to ease the burden of gyrating petroleum prices on millions of Americans.

"Renewable fuels, such as solar power, reduce our dependence on traditional fossil fuels by complementing, rather than replacing, imported oil," said Allen L. Thurgood, the chairman and CEO of 1st Rochdale Cooperative Group, a full-service energy co-op serving the five boroughs of New York City and Westchester County, N.Y. "By developing cleaner, more reliable, more economical energy alternatives, we can loosen OPEC's grip on consumers," said Thurgood, who is also president of 1st Rochdale's new subsidiary, Twin Pines Fuels Corp. Twin Pines Fuels provides heating oil, natural gas and other energy products to consumers across 14 states, stretching from Maine to Virginia. "Deregulation and restructuring offer utilities and energy services companies the opportunity to innovate as never before. At 1st Rochdale and Twin Pines Fuels, renewable fuels are central to the full range of energy services we deliver.

"When we formed 1st Rochdale and Twin Pines Fuels Corp., we made a strong commitment to helping consumers reduce their energy consumption," said Thurgood. "By providing comprehensive energy audits, we are helping consumers make their homes and businesses more energy-efficient. At 1st Rochdale, we want customers to rack up negawatts' rather than megawatts. A negawatt is the megawatt a consumer doesn't use, which is the greenest and least expensive megawatt of all."

For a growing number of building contractors seeking energy efficiencies, the sun has become the power source of choice, thanks to recent advances in silicon technology. Manufacturers now integrate durable Thin Film or "Amorphous Silicon" directly into building materials, including roofing, windows and siding. As a result, there are no mounting systems to purchase or install. Residents of Sacramento, Calif., for example, have reduced their reliance on fossil and nuclear fuels and improved the reliability of their power grid ever since that city embraced solar power on a grand scale several years ago. Sacramento enjoys roughly the same amount of sunshine as New York and other Eastern cities.

"Demand for electric power rises each year, but, as the Northern Manhattan blackout showed last July, supply is limited because the monopolist utility's electric cables carry only so much," said Thurgood. "The question is, how can we supplement New York's energy supply with clean, cost-effective, renewable fuels? One way through generating power directly at the point of consumption, with solar power and distributed generators in or on the building. The result is an electric grid less vulnerable to power outages during peak demand. The sun's power is not only clean and energy-efficient, but it's economically efficient for consumers."

Not only are they pollution-free, reliable and cost-effective, but solar panels generate electricity directly at the point where energy is consumed at the home or building. In this way, solar panels reduce the amount of electricity that the region's congested power grid must carry. Excess power generated by solar panels can also feed into the underground electric cables, alleviating strained capacity and helping to avert future blackouts during triple-degree summertime heat.

Richard Perez, Ph.D., of the State University of New York at Albany's Atmospheric Science Research Center, has conducted extensive research into the viability of solar power to serve the rising demand for electricity in New York City and Westchester. New York City and the surrounding suburbs consume the greatest amount of electricity on hot summer days. "By analyzing satellite data, we discovered that 90 percent of maximum sunshine available shone on the metropolitan area on July 6, 1999, the day a major power outage struck Northern Manhattan," Dr. Perez said. "A strategically placed network of solar panels could have prevented the outage that day."

In addition to solar technologies, 1st Rochdale is easing the region's overburdened power grid through energy efficiencies and distributed non-solar power generation. By combining energy-efficient lighting and air conditioning technology with micro-turbines, solar cells and fuel cells, 1st Rochdale enables large buildings to save money by reducing their dependence on the monopolist utility's power grid. Distributed generation also helps to avert blackouts by delivering excess capacity into the power grid.

In January 2000, 1st Rochdale submitted its "Green Apple" Renewable Energy Program to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for review. The proposal sets forth a bold vision for delivering renewable-based distributed generation systems and energy-efficiency services throughout New York City. 1st Rochdale will strengthen its many relationships with building owners, low-income occupied buildings and environmental groups with a message that solar and other distributed generation systems can be installed on their buildings. 1st Rochdale integrates measurable cost-saving and energy efficiencies into every Green Apple Renewable Energy Program proposal it produces.

"The reality is, the cleanest energy is also the most cost-effective for consumers over the long term," Thurgood said. "Restructuring of our industry has freed 1st Rochdale to innovate on behalf of energy consumers and over the next few years, New Yorkers and other Easterners can expect to see their energy supply become cleaner, cheaper, more reliable and far more plentiful than ever before."