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EPA, FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES, OTHER GROUPS ADVANCE GREEN ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL POWER GENERATION

Release Date: 07/30/2001
Contact Information:

Environmental News

EPA is today joining 20 Fortune 500 companies, cities, universities, and others in the Green Power Partnership, a new voluntary program aimed at boosting the market for power alternatives that reduce the environmental and health risks of conventional electricity generation. The Green Power Partnership is the newest addition to EPA’s family of voluntary programs, which includes the Energy Star energy efficiency project. The Partnership follows through on President Bush’s National Energy Policy Report released in May, which directed EPA to develop and carry out a new renewable energy partnership program.

“A growing number of organizations recognize that green power is increasingly available and offers the next logical step in environmental responsibility,” said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. By choosing green power sources for their electricity, these groups are leading the way toward a cleaner future. Green power also offers benefits to participants in terms of power reliability, employee pride, and enhanced public image. This is a win, win program for our Partners and the environment.”

Green power is electricity generated by renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, water (hydro), geothermal, biomass (combustion of organic materials), and biogas (combustion of naturally-produced methane). Partners in the program must pledge a switch to Green Power for a portion of their electricity needs within the next year In return, EPA provides technical assistance and public recognition.

EPA is announcing the Green Power Partnership today at a press conference at the Sixth Annual Green Power Marketing Conference taking place in Portland, Oregon. The conference is sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the U.S. EPA, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Electric Power Research Institute, the latter two being industry trade groups. The Founding Partners are making a commitment to procure more than 280,000 megawatt-hours of Green Power over the next year. This commitment will prevent 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the major global warming gas, from being emitted into the atmosphere.

Founding Partners in the Green Power Partnership include:

3M Research Boulevard Facility, Austin, Texas; Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, Olympia, Wash.; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh; Cascade Engineering (Grand Rapids, Mich.)-- Michigan facilities; City of Chicago; City of Portland, Ore.; City of Santa Monica, Calif.; Connecticut College, New London; Fetzer Vineyards (Hopland, Calif.) -- production facilities; Ford Motor Co. (Dearborn, Mich.) -- United States manufacturing facilities; General Motors (Detroit, Mich.) -- Service, Parts & Operations facilities; Interface Flooring Systems, Troup County, Ga.; Johnson & Johnson (New Brunswick, N.J.) -- select facilities in California, New Jersey and Texas; Kinko’s (Ventura, Calif.); New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colo.; Steelcase (Grand Rapids, Mich.) - - Corporate Headquarters; U.S. Dept.of Energy -- Denver offices: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Regional Field Office, Golden Field Office ;U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- select facilities nationwide; University of Colorado (Boulder) -- Student Union; Xantrex Technologies (Arlington, Wash.).

For further technical information on the Green Power Partnership, phone Kurt Johnson in EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs at 202-564-3481.

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