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| Spring
Tour of Clean Energy Homes |
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People's
Action for Clean Energy (PACE) announces its spring
tour to be held on Saturday, May 15th in northeastern
Connecticut. Four new homes in Ashford, North Windham,
Eastford and Canterbury will give the public an opportunity
to see unique renewable energy applications in attractive
new houses, featuring passive solar, photovoltaic, small
hydro and geothermal technologies. Literature and exhibits
are included. The tour is sponsored by SmartPower.
Tickets are $15 and may be ordered from PACE c/o Tracy
Sigman 45 West Rd. Canton, CT 06019. For more info,
call 860-693-4813 or access www.pace-cleanenergy.org. |
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| Connecticut
Considers Broad Global Warming Response |
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Connecticut is poised to become the
second state in the country to pass broad global warming
legislation. Thanks in part to active participation by
SmartPower collaborators Environment Northeast and Clean
Water Action, the legislation, SB595, known as “An
Act Concerning Climate Change,” is a strong start
to addressing global warming. SmartPower, Environment
Northeast and Clean Water Action are all members of the
Connecticut Climate Coalition – a group of more
than 70 organizations whose memberships represent over
a half million Connecticut residents. The Coalition is
working to see that Governor Rowland follows through on
his commitment to create a Climate Change Action Plan
for the state, and the current bill puts many of those
goals into law. See details of the bill on Environment
Northeast’s website or on the website of the
Connecticut
Climate Coalition.
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| Maine
Public Radio Gets Message |
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Every Thursday for 13 weeks this spring,
Maine
Green Power Connection (MeGPC) is sponsoring All Things
Considered and Maine Things Considered on Maine Public
Radio. The sponsorship is made possible through a public
awareness grant from SmartPower and is part of the overall
clean energy awareness campaign. MeGPC exists to build
interest in and market support for environmentally beneficial
electricity products. By educating consumers and supporting
clean power suppliers, MeGPC looks toward a day when all
new generation in Maine comes from non-polluting sources.
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| SmartPower-sponsored
Public Television Series Nominated for Two Emmys |
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| “Connecticut’s
Energy Future,” a five-part series sponsored
by SmartPower
and the Connecticut
Clean Energy Fund, has been nominated for two Emmy
Awards by the Boston/New England Chapter of the National
Television Academy. The nominations are in the categories
of Informational Program and Public Affairs Program. The
winners will be announced at a gala event on May 2nd at
the Seaport Hotel in Boston.
The series, hosted by acclaimed television actor Ed
Asner, was aired on Connecticut Public Television last
year. “What will I wear?” said SmartPower
Executive Director Brian F. Keane.
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| Family
Science Expo Includes SmartPower |
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| People's
Action for Clean Energy (PACE) exhibited at the CPTV
Family Science Expo through a grant from SmartPower.
The Family Science Expo, which took place this year on
April 1 at the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford, is
an opportunity for families with children ages 4-14 to
explore science together through interactive exhibits. |
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SmartPower |
phone: 860-249-7040 |
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Volume 2;
Issue 4, April 2004 |
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| Clean Energy
Rhode Island Advertising Campaign Launched to Promote
Clean Energy Option |
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| In 2004 and beyond, through TV, radio
and newspaper advertising, direct mail and outdoor (billboard)
advertising, SmartPower will educate Rhode Islanders about
the need to use and purchase clean energy – and
show them how their use of clean energy will help promote
clean air, healthy communities and America’s energy
independence. The campaign invites Rhode Island residents
and small business owners to visit the new website www.CleanEnergyRI.com,
where interested customers can learn more about their
new clean energy option, calculate their cost and sign
up directly with any one of the four clean energy providers
in Rhode Island. |
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Billboard planned for Interstate 95 near Providence |
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| The campaign kicked off with SmartPower’s
“Clean Energy Summit” which was held at the
Providence Biltmore Hotel on March 31 (see
Poll, below) and was immediately augmented by radio
sponsorships on WRNI with our tag line “Brought
to you by CleanEnergyRI -- announcing Rhode Island's clean
power providers now offer clean energy for your home,
business and community. On the web at Clean Energy R-I
dot-com." |
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 Phase
two of the campaign begins on April 19th with the launch
of a highly targeted radio and television advertising
campaign with the theme “Clean Energy: It’s
real. It’s here. It’s working.” Over
the next three months these ads, created by the Clean
Energy States Alliance along with SmartPower, will air
to Rhode Island viewers of Meet the Press, Face the
Nation, CNN and CNBC. In addition, a series of 30-second
advertisements will run on major radio stations in Rhode
Island.
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The paid media campaign represents
a watershed event for the promotion of clean energy.
Never before has such a marketing campaign promoted
clean energy without making specific references to environment
or health. The SmartPower/CESA paid media campaign instead
directly confronts the two issues which consumers consistently
and erroneously believe are problems with clean energy
– its viability and availability. |
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| The ads and other marketing resources
will be posted on SmartPower’s website at www.smartpower.org
as they become available. |
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| New SmartPower
Poll Shows Significant Shift To Clean Energy Likely In
Rhode Island |
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| Most Rhode Island
residents are confident that cleaner, less-polluting
sources of electric power such as solar, wind and hydropower
can be relied on to provide electricity to their homes,
according to a poll released at a gathering in Providence
of groups concerned about clean energy issues. |
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| The survey of over 400 electric customers
was conducted in advance of the new opportunity for residents
to shift to clean energy purchased from four different
clean energy providers. Any residential or small business
ratepayer in Rhode Island can now switch to clean energy
by signing up online at SmartPower’s new website
for that purpose, www.CleanEnergyRI.com. |
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| The poll of electric customers also
shows that a majority are willing to accept a slight increase
in their monthly electric bill to purchase electricity
produced from renewable sources rather than traditional
fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas. |
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near to the numbers suggested by the poll, Rhode Island
will likely become the largest per capita user of clean
energy in the nation. Similar programs nationwide have
seen an enrollment in clean energy programs averaging
between 1-2 percent. |
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| “Clean energy is real, it’s
here, it’s working and most important, Rhode Islanders
in overwhelming numbers believe in it and are willing
to pay a little bit extra to get it,” says Brian
F. Keane, Executive Director of SmartPower. SmartPower
commissioned the poll as part of its new partnership
with the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund[http://www.riseo.state.ri.us/riref.html]
(RIREF) to promote clean energy in the Ocean State. |
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Lyn Rosoff and Richard Earle describe the new
advertising campaign. |
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| The details of the statewide poll
were released during an event held March 31 at the Providence
Biltmore Hotel organized by SmartPower. At the event over
a dozen state groups concerned about energy issues heard
how SmartPower will use market research to execute a clean
energy marketing campaign in Rhode Island. |
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| The four clean power marketers - Conservation
Services Group, Community
Energy, People’s
Power and Light, and Sterling
Planet - talked about their wind, biomass, small hydro
and solar energy products that will be offered to Rhode
Island residents |
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| Seventy-five percent of poll respondents
said they would be willing to pay up to ten dollars more
per month for cleaner energy, while slightly more than
half said they would pay and additional twenty dollars
per month more for cleaner energy. For the typical residential
customer the additional cost for cleaner energy would
be between $6.00 and $12.50 per month depending on their
usage and the provider they select. |
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| Asked what the best reason was for
generating electricity from clean resources, most residents
polled said cleaner air and improved health for children.
According to the federal government, air quality in the
state has improved, but Rhode Island’s citizens
continue to suffer ill effects from air pollution, including
asthma attacks and premature death. |
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| Reducing America’s dependence
on foreign oil was the second most popular reason for
generating electricity from cleaner sources |
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| Clean Energy
to Power Rhode Island State House |
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Rhode
Island State House |
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Governor Donald L. Carcieri announced at the end of
March that the State will make a purchase of clean energy
for the State House. The State Energy Office’s
purchase will represent clean energy equal to 100% of
the electricity used at the State House for 5 years.
The cost of the purchase is approximately $210,000,
and will support the installation of the equivalent
of one large wind turbine. The cost will be covered
by the Rhode
Island Renewable Energy Fund. The State Energy Office
will contract for the purchase through a competitive
solicitation to clean power providers currently active
in the State. |
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| "This is a signal to Rhode Islanders
that clean, renewable energy is here, it is available,
and it is strong enough to power a building like the State
House," said Carcieri. "Hopefully, this will
help encourage people throughout Rhode Island to voluntarily
increase their use of cleaner sources of energy." |
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Residential and small
commercial electricity consumers have the option to
purchase clean energy through their Narragansett Electric
bill starting in April, 2004. For more information on
that program, see SmartPower’s website especially
for Rhode Island residents at www.CleanEnergyRI.com |
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| Solar Energy
to Power Education Center in Providence |
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| Save
The Bay, a non-profit organization working to protect,
restore and explore Narragansett Bay and its watershed,
has received a $141,000 grant from the Rhode
Island Renewable Energy Fund for the installation
of a 20 kW photovoltaic system at the new Explore the
Bay Education Center currently being constructed at Fields
Point, Providence. The system, in combination with natural
lighting building design, will supply the building with
all of the energy necessary to light the building. |
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Fields
Point, future location of the
Explore The Bay Education Center.
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“The Save The Bay project provides us with a great
outreach opportunity for pursuing the Fund’s mission,”
said Fund project manager Nancy Selman. “The new
center will not only be an excellent site for the demonstration
of practical renewable energy, but will also attract the
types of visitors that we believe will be inclined to
purchase renewable energy.” An estimated 30,000
visitors a year will take part in Save The Bay education
and outreach programs at the Explore the Bay Education
Center. |
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| The Explore The Bay Education Center,
scheduled to open this fall, is located on a six-acre
site at Fields Point, part of a parcel owned by Johnson
& Wales University from whom Save The Bay has a 50
year lease at the rate of one dollar per year. Save The
Bay has chosen to build on this brownfield site, in spite
of the potential difficulties of reusing such land, because
it is close to the urban core whose children the Explore
The Bay program is meant to serve. |
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Site
plan
Click on image for closeup view
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Besides the solar photovoltaic system, the building will
employ several energy efficiency measures and other environmentally-friendly
measures as part of an overall “green building”
plan. The vegetated roof – a roof covered with plants
– will reduce stormwater runoff, improve insulation
of the building and reduce the visual impact of the building.
Passive solar and natural light design will admit natural
light and heat. The urban “brownfield” will
be landscaped in an environmentally friendly fashion and
a section of shoreline will be restored. “We want
every moment spent at our new Field’s Point facility
to be a learning opportunity,” said Save The Bay
Executive Director Curt Spalding. |
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| The solar photovoltaic system will
be designed and installed by SolarWrights, a Barrington-based
solar equipment company. The company has contributed an
additional $15,000 in equipment and consulting services. |
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