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Clean Air-Cool Planet is the Northeast's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions to global warming.
Stamford residents, other Vermonters can help solve global warming PORTSMOUTH, NH (February 27, 2003)—Polls show that most Americans know global warming is real and that they are concerned about it. For residents of Stamford, Vermont—and other towns served by Green Mountain Power—there is now a simple way to do something about global warming. It’s right on their utility bill: call 1-888-835-4672. “We’ve made it very simple for customers to do something that works every day to fight global warming,” said Stephen C. Terry, Green Mountain Power’s Senior Vice President of Corporate and Legal Affairs. “Now our customers who are concerned about global warming can choose to include a contribution to the non-profit Clean Air-Cool Planet on their Green Mountain Power bill each month. Our electricity supply is already unusually low in emissions. Now our customers can choose to lessen the impact of their total energy use,” he says, adding that customers can also visit Green Mountain’s website at www.greenmountainpower.biz/coolhome or email callcenter@greenmountainpower.biz. The new monthly renewable energy service, CoolHomesm, allows customers to support fledgling renewable energy projects through $6 monthly tax-deductible donations to Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP), a nonprofit organization bringing climate change solutions to the Northeast. Each household participating for one year reduces carbon dioxide pollution by six tons – the annual fossil fuel and electricity-related emissions of the average Vermont household. CA-CP makes this happen by purchasing and retiring “renewable energy credits” from Vermont-based NativeEnergy, allowing participating households to enjoy a year of “climate-neutral” living. The voluntary charitable donations to CA-CP support development of new renewable energy projects through NativeEnergy, including Vermont methane generators and other renewable energy projects, which will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. “With these initiatives, NativeEnergy, Green Mountain Power, and Clean Air – Cool Planet offer a simple way to do something about global warming,” said Adam Markham, Clean Air-Cool Planet’s executive director. “It’s a great way to increase awareness about global warming and demonstrate the importance of individual action. People often feel like there’s nothing they can do, so a program like this that gives people a simple way to have real impact helps overcome that inertia, and often prompts action in other areas.” Residents in Vermont towns outside the Green Mountain Power service area can also offset their “carbon footprint” by visiting the Vermont CoolHomesm page of NativeEnergy’s website at www.nativeenergy.com. “With our Vermont CoolHomesm and WindBuilderssm programs, anyone can compensate for their contributions to global warming, offsetting the carbon dioxide pollution from their homes and cars,” according to Tom Boucher, president and CEO of NativeEnergy. “By subscribing to WindBuilderssm at NativeEnergy, participants finance the development and construction of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Wind Turbine Project - the first Native American owned large-scale wind turbine in the U.S,” Boucher says. “Later WindBuilderssm members will help build the Rosebud expansion or other Native American projects, or the Graber Family Wind Farm - a small farmer-owned project that also needs financial support to proceed with construction, so it can produce a new, supplemental crop on this Midwest operating farm.” Green Mountain Power CoolHomesm Fact Sheet The Problem: Many concerned Vermonters recognize the potential problems associated with global warming and want to do their part to reduce the impact their energy use has on the environment. The new Green Mountain Power program offers a solution for Vermont energy users. CoolHomesm: a unique new renewable energy service offered by Green Mountain Power that enables its customers to take action in the fight against global warming. Announcement of the service is included with customers’ monthly statement; customers sign up in one of three ways:
How it works: CoolHomesm participants make monthly, tax-deductible contributions to GMP. The Green Mountain Power program passes 100% of the donated funds to Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP). CA-CP, through the services of Vermont-based NativeEnergy, uses contributions to provide financial support to fledgling renewable energy projects, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, such as carbon dioxide (CO2). More renewable energy sources contributing power to the grid means less fossil fuel-generated power needed to meet energy demand, reducing emissions of CO2 and various pollutants. Environmental benefits created by these new renewable projects are attributed to CoolHomesm participants through the purchase and retirement of “renewable energy credits” on the participants’ behalf. For each participant, one-half of the six tons of CO2 reductions will be generated by Vermont projects. CoolHomesm differs from traditional “green energy” programs: Under traditional green pricing programs customers pay a premium – to the utility. The utility purchases renewable energy or renewable energy credits for them, or “allocates” energy to them from the renewable resources in its portfolio. With CoolHomesm, the customers accomplish the same environmental result through tax-deductible charitable contributions that fund the purchase and retirement of renewable energy credits by a non-profit dedicated to reducing global warming. Traditional green energy programs are about mitigating the environmental impacts of electricity use. The CoolHomesm program goes further, mitigating the global warming impact of home heating as well. On behalf of each participating household, CA-CP will purchase and retire enough renewable energy credits, including the CO2 reductions they represent, to “neutralize” the global warming impact of powering and heating the average Vermont home for a year. Renewable energy projects Essex Junction Wastewater Treatment Facility, Essex Junction, VT – this project will capture the methane gas created at the facility and will use the renewable fuel to power two 30 kW electricity-generating turbines. The electricity from these turbines will reduce the facility’s consumption of electricity from the grid and reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 3,450 tons over 15 years. Farm Methane Projects throughout Vermont are expected to be added to the current roster. Rosebud Sioux Wind Turbine Project, Rosebud Sioux Reservation, SD – the first Native American-owned and operated utility scale wind turbine in the Great Plains, “the Saudi Arabia of Wind.” The turbine will displace electricity currently generated mostly by burning coal, upwind of Vermont, which also contributes to acid rain. The turbine is the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s first step in developing a sustainable economy based on the wind.
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