In this Issue
Providence Takes the Lead
SmartPower Appears In Newsweek
Clean Energy Night at Pawtucket Red Sox Scores a Home Run
Colleges Focus on Clean Energy
20% by 2010 Update
Cool Fun in the Summertime
Wind and Solar in Action
Connecticut Climate Coalition Promotes Clean Energy
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20% by 2010 Update

The 20% by 2010 campaign continues in cities and towns across Connecticut. The towns of Hamden and Mansfield are the latest municipalities to commit to purchasing 20% of their energy from clean sources by the year 2010. The towns will now work toward making the purchase a reality. Their commitments also make them eligible to earn a free solar photovoltaic system for a public building in town through the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s Clean Energy Communities program. The number of communities committed to purchasing clean energy is now up to fourteen, with more on the horizon. See the SmartPower web page or watch this space for updates.

Cool Fun in the Summertime
Clean energy was a central theme at the Northeast Climate Education and Action Workshop held on Thompson Island in Boston Harbor on July 22 –24, 2005. The event, which was sponsored jointly by Clean Air–Cool Planet, the Greenhouse Network and Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN), featured a number of panel discussions. Larry Chretien of Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, Beth Fiteni of Long Island Neighborhood Network and SmartPower’s Bob Wall led a session entitled “Renewable Energy Purchase Campaigns” focusing on strategies that have led to clean energy commitments in communities throughout the Northeast. A second panel, focusing on wind development, featured Andy Stern of Hull Wind, Mike Jacobs of American Wind Energy Association and Marc Rodgers of Cape Wind Associates. Participants could see that clean energy is real and working simply by looking out the windows of the education center at two nearby wind turbines: the 660-kW turbine in Hull and the new 100-kW turbine located at the IBEW Local 103 in Dorchester.

Wind and Solar in Action
On July 23, a sold-out crowd of more than 70 people enjoyed a unique tour and seminar relating to a Cheshire, CT home that is powered by both wind and solar energy. The event was sponsored by People's Action for Clean Energy(PACE), an all-volunteer organization promoting clean energy and energy efficiency, has organized tours of solar homes and other clean energy educational events since 1976. All participants in the workshop received a ballot to sign up for CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM and a consumers’ guide on solar electric systems, prepared by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

Connecticut Climate Coalition Promotes Clean Energy

SmartPower salutes the Connecticut Climate Coalition, which has worked tirelessly to address global warming at the state level over the past several years and, in the process, has raised citizen awareness of the availability and importance of clean energy. Many activists from the Coalition, which includes over 80 member organizations representing more than 500,000 Connecticut residents, have taken leading roles in convincing their respective communities to commit to SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 Campaign. Roger Smith, Coordinator of the Coalition and Campaign Director for SmartPower collaborator Clean Water Fund, recently stated that “CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM are wonderful because they are such a simple and effective way to stand up and say that as a consumer I want to support solutions to air pollution and global warming.”
SmartPower
phone: 860-249-7040
Volume 3; Issue 7, July/August 2005
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Providence Takes the Lead

The city of Providence is poised to become the first Northeast capital city to commit to 20% clean energy use by 2010. Earlier this week, the Providence City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that would require 20% of the electricity used to run municipal operations to come from clean, renewable resources by the year 2010. The ordinance authorizes the city to create an energy task force to determine how to best meet this clean energy mandate. The ordinance now awaits the signature of Mayor David N. Cicilline which is expected any day.

Providence City Council President John Lombardi, Councilor Miguel Luna, Clean Water Fund’s Emily Rochon, Councilor David Segal and SmartPower's Jonathan Edwards celebrate immediately after the passage of the 20% by 2010 resolution.

“Tonight the Providence City Council gave us greater energy independence, healthier communities and cleaner air,” said SmartPower’s Jonathan Edwards. “With the Mayor’s signature in the coming days, clean energy will be real, here and working for everyone who lives and does business in Providence.”

This spring, SmartPower joined Providence-based Clean Water Fund to form the Providence Clean Energy Collaborative. The collaborative has worked diligently over the past few months to realize the passage of the ordinance and now hopes to see the prompt signing of this ordinance by Mayor Cicilline.

The collaborators worked to build support for the initiative at various events including the RI Sustainable Living Festival, Clean Energy Night at McCoy Stadium (see below), and local music and arts festivals. On July 18, they hosted a community meeting at the Rochambeau Library in East Providence featuring presentations by Clean Water Fund's Emily Rochon, SmartPower's Bob Wall and Andy Stern of Hull Wind. The Hull experience is a true New England clean energy success story - a profitable investment that local residents actually like having in their backyard. Catch the Hull story in video on the Hull Wind website.

“It is exciting to see the Council making a commitment to renewable energy,” said Rochon. “We are grateful to Council President Lombardi and Councilors Segal and Luna for bringing Providence one step closer to a clean energy future.”
SmartPower Appears In Newsweek

Fast Chat: Power in Advertising

July 25 issue - Forget altruism. According to SmartPower, a three-year-old nonprofit that markets clean energy, weaning our nation off fossil fuels just makes good economic sense. After success in Connecticut—the state committed to having 20 percent clean energy by 2010 and 100 percent by 2050—SmartPower's now launching a national campaign to enlist you and your state. SmartPower president Brian Keane tells peri's Elise Soukup why his vision is the smart way to go:

So our energy crisis has just been a marketing problem?
For 30 years clean energy has been sold simply because it was good for the environment. And basically what that's telling the consumer is that you'd better buy into that cause before you buy that product.

So you're broadening the base from just hippie types.
We like to think of ourselves as the "Got Milk?" people for wind, solar and water.

Your ads don't even mention the environment.
People know clean energy is good for the environment. They know it's good for national security. The problem is, they don't know that it works. So our ads say, "Clean Energy: It's Real. It's Here. It's Working."

But is it really?
Yes. There is a perfect storm brewing that is creating a climate for clean energy to really take off. That includes gas prices, the war in Iraq and the rise of hybrid cars. Hybrids show people that you can have it all: you can have a zero-emission car with great gas mileage, and at the end of the day it's just a car. And that's giving people the idea that we can do that with wind and solar, too.

Like in Connecticut.
Connecticut is sending a really strong signal to the markets that this stuff is viable—that people are looking to buy it. And that's how you start this market. We're not asking for any government handouts. We're allowing the market forces to make this stuff work.

That's a good way to market to Republicans.
It turns out that it's a good way to market to any politician.

—Elise Soukup
Clean Energy Night at Pawtucket Red Sox Scores a Home Run
SmartPower’s Jonathan Edwards and Brian Keane, PawSox General Manager Lou Schwechheimer, and SmartPower’s Bob Wall show the certificate representing the purchase of 9000 kWh of clean energy covering all electricity used on game night. Click Here to view the RENEWABLE ENERGY EVENT CERTIFICATE.

The June 16 “Clean Energy Night” at McCoy Stadium, home of the Pawtucket Red Sox, spread the message of “Clean energy: It’s real. It’s here. It’s working” far and wide.

The stadium that night was powered by clean energy provided by the three clean energy suppliers in Rhode Island: Sterling Planet, Community Energy and People’s Power & Light. Details of the event and the clean energy purchase appeared on the PawSox website and the team’s monthly newsletter and were broadcast on Coast 93.3 and affiliated Clear Channel stations in Rhode Island. SmartPower’s Jonathan Edwards appeared on WJAR-TV News 10 and in a radio interview on WPRI leading up to the event, while SmartPower’s Brian Keane was interviewed on radio station WHJJ. The PawSox pre-game television and radio show included discussion of the stadium being powered by clean energy, Narragansett Electric’s “Green-up” program and Community Energy, People’s Power & Light and Sterling Planet’s roles as clean energy suppliers and Solar Wright's work as a clean energy installer. The pre-game show and the game appeared on the New England Sports Network (NESN) and the Cox Sports Network throughout Rhode Island – and so did the CESA/SmartPower television ads. The ads also appeared that week during Boston Red Sox games.

While fans at home heard about clean energy, fans in attendance saw it in action. On the way in to the game, fans had the opportunity to investigate an educational kiosk detailing clean energy featuring the "Clean Energy: Now in Industrial Strength" theme; received information on signing up for clean energy in Rhode Island; and received fact sheets from SmartPower, the Rhode Island Renewable Energy Fund (RIREF) and Clean Water Fund. SmartPower and Coast 93.3 teamed up to give away 4000 light switch plates bearing the Clean Energy: Let’s Make More logo. Once inside, fans could visit the three clean energy providers and clean energy systems installer Solar Wrights on the mezzanine level. On the scoreboard, the clean energy ads and logos of the clean energy suppliers appeared in rotation throughout the game.

Providence City Council President John Lombardi does the honors

The ceremonial first pitch focused on the clean energy theme as well. It was thrown by Providence City Council President John Lombardi, who introduced the 20% by 2010 resolution in Providence (see article, above.) Joining him on the mound were SmartPower’s Brian Keane, Janice McClanaghan of the Rhode Island State Energy Office and Sheila Dormody of Clean Water Fund. During the ceremony, fans were directed to watch the clean energy “Stadiums” ad on the scoreboard. The scoreboard also displayed all the logos of the clean energy suppliers. And it didn’t stop there; periodically between innings, each of the four Clean Energy: Let’s Make More ads were aired on the scoreboard.

SmartPower also had the opportunity to work with selected PawSox players to tape public service announcements on clean energy. The PSAs will be produced and aired throughout the season.

Even though the Columbus Clippers wound up winning the game, it was a home run for the clean energy message. Clean energy is as American as mom, apple pie and, yes, even baseball!
Colleges Focus on Clean Energy

A gathering of administrators and facility managers from various independent state colleges learned about clean energy opportunities for their institutions at an event held at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven on July 21. “Clean Energy Goes To School” included a series of presentations organized by SmartPower for a meeting hosted by the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC).

"Independent colleges and universities across Connecticut are incubators for the best and brightest ideas of the future," said Judy Greiman, President of the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges. "Because clean energy is the inevitable path to fulfill our future energy needs, colleges and universities can act as community leaders and catalysts for the acceptance of clean energy options."

Albertus Magnus College in New Haven

Bryan Garcia of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund opened with a presentation that stressed the important links between energy, environment and economy – or e3. He outlined the various incentive programs available from the Fund to support on-site generation of clean energy, technology development programs, and scholarships available to Connecticut students. SmartPower’s Bob Wall addressed the myriad options that schools have for supporting clean energy and the many attractive benefits both on the campus and in the community. Among the coming attractions is a 2-day training session on the technologies available in both clean energy and energy efficiency, scheduled for September 20-21, 2005. SmartPower’s Jonathan Edwards served as moderator of the event.

Also presented were three case studies of Connecticut schools that have already made commitments to clean energy. Julie Newman, Sustainability Director of Yale University, provided an overview of the school’s greenhouse gas emission reduction and energy conservation strategies, which is expected to incorporate investment in renewable energy projects; the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies was one of the earliest organizations to commit to SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 CampaignSM. Marcia Bromberg, who recently retired as Wesleyan University’s Vice President of Administration & Finance, discussed Wesleyan’s decision to purchase 1 gigawatt-hour of clean energy produced from regional wind and landfill gas facilities. This commitment, along with the encouragement of faculty and staff to sign up for CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM, has helped Middletown to qualify for two free solar PV systems under the Clean Energy Communities program (see previous Monthly Charge articles in May & June 2005.)

Finally, Peter Horgan, Engineering Systems Manager of Connecticut College, described the creative partnership between the college and its students that resulted in a clean energy purchase equivalent to 44% of the school’s annual electricity consumption. The Renewable Energy Club at the school developed a plan to assess students an annual $25 surcharge to support the purchase of clean energy. Connecticut College was among the founding members of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership and received the agency’s Leadership Award.

SmartPower extends its deep gratitude to Judy Greiman, President of the CCIC, and all the CCIC staff and members who made this educational event happen. The CCIC represents sixteen accredited nonprofit independent colleges and universities in Connecticut. For more information, see the CCIC website.