Quayle Hodek, founder and CEO of Renewable Choice Energy, is a committed eco-friendly businessman. He drives a hybrid car, and, at 27, is a dot-com veteran with a passion for making the world a better and cleaner place.

After studying marketing and film production at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Mr. Hodek joined Zoom Culture, a digital video company, as one of its founding employees and investors. When the bubble burst, so did Zoom Culture. So Mr. Hodek put his startup experience and green ethos together to found Renewable Choice Energy in 2001.

Renewable Choice, based in Boulder, Colorado, guarantees its customers that 100 percent of the electricity they use is produced by wind turbines. Earlier this year, Renewable Choice added Fortune 500 company Whole Foods Market to its customers, which will have the same environmental impact as taking more than 60,000 cars off the road.

The company has 10 employees, “but we really need about 50,” says Mr. Hodek. He started the company with funding from an enthusiastic group of angel investors.

Q: Did you show any early childhood signs of environmentalism?

A: What really made an impression on me was flying from one coast to another of Costa Rica and witnessing the scale of forest destruction. I think young people today have a different type of story than the older generation of executives.... I think we have a greater respect for the problems mankind has caused.

Q: What prompted you to start Renewable Choice Energy?

A: After surviving the dot-com era, I thought one of the most crucial aspects of running a business was to work according to a fundamental belief system. We wanted a sustainable company and to change the way electricity is used across the world. Life is too short to do something that is not truly inspiring and truly meaningful.

Q: What’s it like being a CEO at 27?

A: It’s really interesting sitting down with other CEOs. You find you get maybe two minutes to impress them. It’s a fun challenge.

Q: Who are your current clients?

A:We have clients in 36 states. They include Fortune 500 companies such as Whole Foods Market, Warner Brothers, Johnson & Johnson, and Honda. We have Duke and Harvard universities signed up, and we provide a portion of the energy supplying several cities [in the U.S.].

Q: How do you convince a mega-consuming, SUV-driving, MTV-watching Texan that renewable energy is the way ahead?

A:In the world today we burn two barrels of oil for every barrel we find. Most of the biggest energy companies are moving in this direction.

Q: How much more do consumers have to pay for wind-generated electricity?

A: Wind power is like organic food. You have to pay a little more for it, but you know it’s better for the environment and for you. In the United States consumers pay around eight to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour. To ensure all your electricity comes from wind power costs about 2 cents more.

Q: How do you respond to critics of wind power?

A:The two main criticisms you hear are aesthetic criticisms—“not in my backyard” and the impact on bird life. A small minority of people don’t like the way [the turbines] look. But I think they’re majestic, they spin very slowly, and each one can power 1,000 homes. The alternative choice is a coal plant in the backyard, puking carbon dioxide and sulphurous gases. The other criticism is that they have an impact on bird life. But cats actually kill 20 times more birds than wind turbines.

Q: But cats kill huge numbers of birds. There are web sites dedicated to cat haters for that very reason...