Michelle Conlon is a committed renewable energy activist.

The Atlanta resident helped start a green power program in Tennessee that generates electricity from the wind and sun. Now she sells solar panels across the Southeast.

POUYA DIANAT / pdianat@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

The Seminole Landfill green power facility in DeKalb County processes methane gas into energy that is sold to Georgia Power. Above, plant operator Tarrez Lawrence does a routine check on the pre-treatment facility.

POUYA DIANAT / pdianat@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Trucks transport garbage to the landfill around the green energy facility. DeKalb County began processing methane gas into energy in 2006 for sale to Georgia Power.

THE ALTERNATIVES Top 10 green energy programs, based on percentage of customers participating: 1. City of Palo Alto Utilities in Palto Alto, Calif. — 20.4 percent. Energy sources: Wind and solar. Cost: 1.5 cents/kWh. Year started: 2003. 2. Lenox Muncipal Utilites in Lenox, Iowa — 14.3 percent. Sources: Wind, biomass and solar. Cost: Varies. Year started: 2003. 3. Silicon Valley Power in Santa Clara, Calif. — 8.7 percent. Sources: Wind and solar. Cost: 1.5 cents/kWh. Year started: 2004. 4. Portland General Electric in Portland, Ore. — 8.5 percent. Sources: Wind, geothermal and hydro. Cost: 0.8 cents to 1.75 cents/kWh. Year started: 2002. 5. Sacramento Municipal Utility District — 7.4 percent. Sources: Wind, landfill gas, hydro and solar. Cost: 1 cent/kWh. Year started: 1997. 6. City of Naperville Public Utilities in Naperville, Ill. — 6.7 percent. Sources: Wind, hydro and solar. Cost: 2.5 cents/kWh. Year started: 2005. 7. Montezuma Municipal Light & Power in Montezuma, Iowa — 6.2 percent. Sources: Wind, biomass and solar. Cost: Varies. Year started: 2003. 8. Pacific Power in Oregon — 5.7 percent. Sources: Wind, biomass and solar. Cost: 0.78 cents to 1.95 cents/kWh. Year started: 2002. 9. River Falls Municipal Utilities in River Falls, Wis. — 5.3 percent. Sources: Hydro, wind and biogas. Cost: 1 cent/kWh. Year started: 2001. 10. Holy Cross Energy in Glenwood Springs, Colo. — 5.2 percent. Sources: Hydro, solar and wind. Cost: 1.5 cents and 2.33 cents/kWh. Year started: 1998 and 2002. Sources: U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory Georgia Power's Green Energy program Started: October 2006 Customers: 4,023 Participation rate: 0.2 percent Cost: 4.5 cents/kWh or $4.50 a month Green energy source: Landfill gas and a fractional amount of solar Capacity: 3.2 megawatts Total system capacity: 20,000 megawatts Green Power EMC Started: October 2003 Customers: 4,400 Participation rate: 0.23 percent Cost: Set by each co-op. Price varies from 2 cents/kWh to 3.33 cents/kWh, or $3 to $5 a month Green energy source: Landfill gas, hydropower and a fractional amount of solar Capacity: 7.5 megawatts Total system capacity: 9,200 megawatts Sources: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Georgia Power and Green Power EMC Recent headlines: Atlanta tax protesters celebrate with Tea Party  On a mild day, Kenyans sweep AJC Peachtree  Should Georgia teen drivers sport warning magnets?     • Metro and state news

But Conlon won't pay the extra $4.50 a month for Georgia Power's Green Energy program. She says the program — one of the costliest in the country — doesn't offer enough for the money.

Let the presidential candidates, Gov. Sonny Perdue and other politicos sing the glories of homegrown resources and energy independence. Let Al Gore and Leonardo DiCaprio make all the movies they want about global warming.

Hardly anyone is buying it.

Only a fraction of 1 percent of Georgia's electric customers are willing to pay the few dollars extra every month for renewable energy. The state's participation rate is one-tenth the national figure, which is a paltry 2 percent.

That's led many renewable energy advocates to call for federal mandates.

Congress has come close to requiring electric utilities to produce a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources. Most recently, the House of Representatives' version of the Energy Independence and Security Act would have required power companies to produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The requirement did not make it through the Senate, to the relief of both Georgia Power and the state's electric cooperatives. They buy only a fraction of 1 percent of their power from renewable sources.

Green ignorance

Green Power EMC, a collaboration of 38 of Georgia's 42 electric membership cooperatives serving suburban and rural areas, began with a lot of optimism. Before the program launched in October 2003 — three years before Georgia Power's — 35 percent of customers surveyed said they would pay up to $5 a month more for green energy.

"Everybody says they want to support it, but it's been a tough sell," said Michael Whiteside, the CEO of the Coweta-Fayette EMC and the president of Green Power EMC, an unpaid position.

There is a host of reasons behind the chilly reception for the state's green energy programs, starting with how few people even know they exist.

A December 2007 report by the National Energy Renewable Laboratory found that "a number of utilities have reported that only 20 percent to 30 percent of their customers are aware that a green power option is offered."

If awareness isn't the obstacle, cost may be. Green energy programs ask customers to pay a premium on top of electric bills that already are rising steadily. And green premiums in Georgia are relatively expensive.

Of more than 800 utilities across the country that sell an optional green energy product, federal data shows Georgia Power charges more than all but eight. And most of those eight sell solar power, the most expensive renewable option available. Georgia Power gets nearly all its green power from a dramatically cheaper technology.

Georgia Power's green energy program costs 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour, for a minimum purchase of $4.50 a month. Most of the nation's voluntary green power programs charge less than 3 cents per kilowatt hour to participate.

Green Power EMC allows each co-op to set its own price. Those on the low end, at 2 cents per kilowatt hour, or $3 a month, are in line with the national average. Those on the high end — at 3.33 cents per kilowatt hour, or $5 a month — are in the nation's top tier by cost. Like Georgia Power, nearly all its renewable energy comes from cheap technology.

At any price, consumers often don't buy in because they don't see what they're getting and don't understand why it should cost more, said Suzanne Shelton of the Shelton Group, a Knoxville marketing firm that has analyzed green power programs.

"That's confusing. [They think], it's the wind. Why isn't it free?" she said.

Skeptics abound

Some of the toughest skeptics of Georgia's green power programs are environmentalists, the very people who lobby for renewable energy to replace coal and other "dirty" sources.

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit that promotes alternative energy, said his organization pushed voluntary green power programs in Georgia 10 years ago, but now sees them as a public relations gimmick to forestall real change in the state's coal-based electricity market.

"What we see in Georgia is 'what's the minimum that we can do?' We'll take your money and we'll green wash and do a lot of propaganda about the program," Smith said.

Smith said customers might be willing to kick in if they know the company is advancing renewables. But, he said, Georgia Power and its corporate parent are "10 years behind the curve ... Southern Co. is looking at offshore wind, but they're not really advancing the ball on renewable energy in a credible or serious way."

Tal Wright, spokesman for Georgia Power, said the company will spend "as much as $1 billion on renewable generation over the next 10 years" and that its program is "realistic, achievable and economical."

Green Power EMC's Whiteside said the co-ops are "aggressively pursuing renewable energy projects in Georgia," but most options have serious obstacles.

Skeptics also point to the recent dismantling of Florida Power & Light's Sunshine Energy as a reason not to pay more for green electricity.

Last week, the Florida Public Service Commission shut down the program after an audit found three-quarters of the $11.4 million raised since 2004 went to a Texas contractor for marketing materials, administrative salaries and other management costs. Much of the rest was spent to buy renewable energy credits from companies outside Florida.

The program had made the Department of Energy's top 10 for participation and sales, with more than 37,000 green-paying customers.

To date, Georgia Power has spent 31 percent of subscribers' premiums on marketing. But marketing expenditures are shrinking, to 1 percent so far in 2008, said Georgia Power spokeswoman Lynn Wallace.

That number is not available from Green Power EMC. Each member handles its own publicity, said Whiteside, the group's president.

The renewable energy now for sale in Georgia is all Georgia-produced.

Georgia Power's program recently received e-certification, the green seal of approval from the Center for Resource Solutions, an independent green energy auditor based in San Francisco.

The certification, which many green energy advocates say is a must to ensure credibility, means the renewable energy comes from a verified source.

One co-op, Sawnee EMC in north metro Atlanta, attained certification last week. Others are expected to have it by the end of the year, officials said.

Landfill power

Both Georgia Power and Green Power EMC now rely on the cheapest form of alternative energy: landfills.

Landfill-generated power is considered green because it comes from a renewable fuel, trash. It also eliminates methane gas which, unburned, contributes to global warming.

Georgia Power buys electricity produced by burning methane gas emitted at a DeKalb County landfill. Ninety percent of it has been sold to about 4,000 green customers.

The state's co-ops buy electricity from landfills in Fayette and Taylor counties and a low-impact hydrodam near Athens. They have also installed solar panels on 16 schools. Their 4,400 green power customers are buying about a third of the renewable power.

Among energy alternatives, landfill gas is about the least sexy option out there, which is why Conlon, the green energy expert, says she doesn't buy Georgia Power's green product.

"If they had something in place where they were doing wind turbines on the coast, or solar modules, or solar plants, or something like that, I would be more inclined to pay more for that," she said. "But it's just really hard for me to justify paying more for landfill methane gas."

Both Georgia Power and Green Power EMC have expansion plans, including a chicken litter-to-power plant for the co-ops and the conversion of a coal plant to a wood-burning plant for Georgia Power. Both are also looking to add more popular renewables such as solar.

Green Power retains 75 cents of every green premium for research, development and education. Georgia Power, meanwhile, wants to create a two-tiered pricing system that would create a cheaper premium for landfill-generated power and a more expensive one for green power that includes pricier green investments.

If consumers aren't receptive to green power, government is. Georgia Power sells 40 percent of its current green power to Robins Air Force Base south of Macon, which has a federal mandate to buy it.

One of Green Power EMC's biggest customers is Unicoi State Park and Lodge near Helen, which spends $2,448 yearly on green energy.

"It's the right thing to do... We say we like to walk the talk because we want to efficiently use the resources that we're here to protect," said Ellen Graham, Unicoi's resource manager.