City of Palo Alto Receives Highest Renewable Energy Participation Rating in Nation
AEN News
Palo Alto, CA - PaloAltoGreen, the renewable energy program offered
by the City of Palo Alto Utilities, has achieved the nation's
highest participation rate, according to the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL) 2005 Top Ten list. With 13.6% of utility
customers enrolled, PaloAltoGreen has outperformed the national
average of 1.3% participation for green pricing programs. This
is the first year that PaloAltoGreen has achieved the #1 spot
for best-in-nation participation.
"We are proud to be a community that makes a voluntary green
power program, like PaloAltoGreen, the enormous success that
it is," said Palo Alto Mayor, Judy Kleinberg. "This is just
another example of Palo Altans' environmental stewardship in
maintaining a safe, healthy and sustainable city."
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national
laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research
and development. Each year, NREL releases "Top 10" rankings of
the nation's best performing renewable energy utility programs.
Such programs allow electricity consumers to support electricity
generated from renewable resources such as wind, biomass,
and solar.
"PaloAltoGreen's No. 1 ranking establishes the program as a
national leader in clean energy offerings in the utility
industry," said Blair Swezey, Prinicipal Policy Advisor for
NREL. "Green pricing programs are fulfilling the ever-increasing
consumer demand for clean energy options and are indicative
of the overall growth in renewable energy industries."
The popularity of this green power option has far exceeded
expectations. A key to PaloAltoGreen's success has been the
program's innovative implementation and the community's
enthusiastic support. Offered through the City of Palo Alto
Utilities (CPAU) in partnership with 3 Phases Energy, the
program takes a community-oriented approach and tracks
the tangible environmental benefits of participation.
Business support for the program is also strong, confirming
that supporting sustainable energy is good for business.
More than 100 businesses have committed to PaloAltoGreen,
including major corporations such as Agilent Technologies,
CV Therapeutics, HP, Lockheed Martin, Palo Alto Medical
Foundation, Roche Palo Alto, and Schering-Plough Biopharma.
When customers choose to support 100% renewable energy for
their home or business, CPAU buys Green-e® certified renewable
energy on their behalf that supports wind resources in the
West and solar resources in California, and even within
the Palo Alto community. The renewable energy for
PaloAltoGreen is supplied by 3 Phases Energy, a renewable
energy company that also partners with CPAU in marketing
the program to the community.
PaloAltoGreen is an example of a successful utility renewable
energy option for customers that improves environmental
quality and decreases dependence on fossil fuels, while
rallying public support, pride and enthusiasm.
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