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| Events |
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| Pawtucket
Red Sox Clean Energy Night, June 16
America already produces enough clean energy to power
every professional stadium in the country – and
SmartPower has ensured that it’s already begun.
Join us at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, RI for Clean
Energy Night on June 16 as the PawSox take on the Columbus
Clippers, the triple A affiliate of the New York Yankees.
The stadium that evening will be powered by clean energy.
SmartPower and the Rhode Island clean energy companies
will be on hand to talk to fans about their clean energy
choices, and the first 4,000 kids will receive a clean
energy switchplate provided by SmartPower & Coast
93.3. Don’t miss a chance to see the best of minor
league baseball and support clean energy in the process.
For tickets and information, see the Pawtucket
Red Sox website.
RI Sustainable Living Festival
& Renewable Energy Expo, June 4, Coventry, RI
The 4th Annual Rhode Island Sustainable Living Festival
& Renewable Energy Expo is the premier event in
Southern New England promoting all aspects of Sustainable
Living. It features an all-star line-up of nationally
known musicians, over 30 educational workshops, a full
children's program, scores of vendors and exhibitors,
tours of Apeiron Institute's award-winning Eco-Building,
the Rhode Island Junior Solar Sprint, nature hikes,
a fleet of alternative energy vehicles, storytellers,
puppets, healers, and much more! We hope you'll join
thousands of New Englanders for an unparalleled mix
of music, education, and fun! For more information,
please visit the Apeiron
website.
Global Warming Solutions
2005, June 8-9, New York, NY
Clean Air – Cool Planet, the region's leading
organization dedicated to finding and promoting solutions
to global warming, holds its third climate change conference
with the theme “What’s on the Climate Horizon
– Risks and Benefits for Businesses, Investors
and Financial Institutions.” Workshops include
corporate climate change strategies, the regulatory
environment, emissions reduction, public and private
solutions and more. SmartPower’s own Brian F.
Keane will speak. For more information, see the Clean
Air – Cool Planet website.
Earth Day Celebration,
May 21, Fairfield, CT
Fairfield's Earth Day Celebration will be held at McKinley
Elementary School in Fairfield this Saturday from 9:30
a.m. to 2 p.m. This year's event focuses on safe and
healthy choices for your home and family, including
CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM. Don't miss the centerpiece workshop
at noon: "New Choices for Clean Energy," featuring
emcee Paul Piorek from News 12 Connecticut, Westport
First Selectwoman Dianne Farrell, State Senator John
McKinney and SmartPower's own Bob Wall. Other workshops
will address Energy Efficient Windows, Geothermal Systems,
Green Buildings, Solar Energy (featuring architect John
Rountree) and a book signing for "Green Living
- the E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on the
Earth" by local author Jim Motavalli. This event
features more than 50 business and environmental exhibits,
live music, food, recycling, and much more. |
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| Pennsylvania
Colleges Expand Wind Purchases |
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| The
Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental
Policy(PCIEP), in partnership with leading wind energy
marketer Community
Energy, Inc.(CEI), announced in April that its member
colleges and universities have increased their commitment
to purchase Pennsylvania-based wind energy. The wind purchases,
part of a campaign launched by CEI and PCIEP called "Getting
to 10% Wind,” encourages Pennsylvania colleges and
universities to increase their existing wind energy purchases
to match at least 10% of their total usage with wind energy.
The universities who have signed on and the percentage
of their energy coming from wind power include Eastern
University (32.2%), Dickinson College (12.1%), The University
of Pennsylvania (10.4%), Juniata College (10.4%), Allegheny
College (10%), Chatham College (10%), Duquesne University
(10%), Keystone College (10%), and Mercyhurst College
(10%). |
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| MCAN
Holds Clean Power Training |
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| A large, enthusiastic
crowd gathered at the historic Whittemore Robbins House
in Arlington, Massachusetts earlier this month to learn
about marketing clean energy and about the New England
towns that are leading by example. The workshop, hosted
by the Massachusetts
Climate Action Network (MCAN), spread the word that
clean energy is already powerful, available and reliable
and citizens are demanding more of it. Among the featured
speakers were Chad Laurent, Mass
Energy Consumers Alliance; Martha Broad of the Massachusetts
Technology Collaborative; Peggy MacLeod, Center
for Ecological Technology; and Fred Schlicter, Program
Manager for MCAN. Newton Mayor
David Cohen, Clean
Water Fund’s Carissa Williams and SmartPower’s
own Bob Wall shared insights on how municipal governments
in Massachusetts and Connecticut have made commitments
to clean energy. Andrew Stern, Hull
Citizens Advocating for Renewable Energy, and Jim
Gordon, Cape
Wind Associates, spoke on the status of wind projects
at Hull and Cape Cod, MA. Special thanks to Marc Breslow
and MCAN for presenting such an outstanding training session! |
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SmartPower |
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phone: 860-249-7040 |
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Volume 3;
Issue 5, May 2005 |
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| Middletown,
CT Joins 20% by 2010 |
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City
set to qualify as Connecticut’s first Clean Energy
Community
By unanimous vote of the Middletown Common Council
on May 2, Middletown, CT is the eleventh municipality
in Connecticut to join the SmartPower 20% by 2010 Campaign.
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Middletown
Mayor Domenique S. Thorton |
“Clean energy works. It’s real and it is
available now. That is why the city of Middletown is
joining SmartPower today and committing to 20% clean
energy use by 2010,” said Domenique Thorton, Mayor
of Middletown.
Middletown is in a unique position: although it is
the most recent municipality to join 20% by 2010, it
is already poised to become the first Connecticut Clean
Energy Community and earn a free solar photovoltaic
(PV) system. The city had to meet two requirements:
first, commit to the 20% by 2010 goal as it just did,
and second, generate significant demand for clean energy
in the community, meeting goals defined under the SmartPower/Connecticut
Clean Energy Fund Clean
Energy Communities program. The demand requirement
was satisfied by an Earth Day announcement from Wesleyan
University, located in Middletown, in which the
school announced its plans to purchase of one gigawatt-hour
of clean energy. Wesleyan’s commitment will result
in a free 1 kilowatt (kW) solar PV system, worth over
$10,000, installed somewhere in Middletown.
“Wesleyan is proud to support the City of Middletown
in its plans to become a Clean Energy Community by committing
to purchase 1 gigawatt-hour of renewable energy,”
said Marcia Bromberg, Wesleyan Vice President for Finance
and Administration. “Wesleyan applauds the City's
efforts to improve the environment through its purchase
of clean energy and efforts to engage Middletown citizens
to purchase clean energy.”
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MWesleyan
University’s College Row |
The city can continue to earn free solar as more demand
is generated. For example, when 100 residential customers
in Middletown sign up for clean energy through their
utility bill – the CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM
program – another 1 kW is added to the size of
the free system.
“Congratulations to Middletown for joining the
20% by 2010 campaign and positioning itself to become
Connecticut’s first official Clean Energy Community,”
said Bryan Garcia, Director of Energy Market Initiatives,
Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. “The more local
residents, businesses, and institutions like Wesleyan
University demonstrate support for their community by
signing on to the CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM
program, the more solar PV systems their towns will
acquire through Connecticut Clean Energy Communities.
Wesleyan’s leadership is a wonderful example of
how a university can support the community’s efforts
towards clean energy.”
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Councilor
Ron Klattenberg was instrumental in the passage
of Middletown’s 20% by 2010 resolution. |
“Every resident of Middletown should follow the
leadership of Mayor Thorton and Council members Ron
Klattenberg and Jim Streeto by purchasing clean energy
through the CTCleanEnergyOptionsSM program
that is now available to customers of the state’s
two major utilities,” suggested SmartPower's Bob
Wall.
Middletown currently uses 16,499 MWh of electricity
on an annual basis for municipal buildings. Visit www.gocleanenergy.com
for more information on how you can support clean energy.
Meanwhile, the race is on for which of the Clean Energy
Communities in southwest Connecticut (Fairfield, Milford,
New Haven, Orange, Stamford or Westport) will be the
first to reach 100 sign-ups for clean energy and qualify
for a free solar energy system. In an effort to alleviate
congestion problems in that area, the incentive to support
clean energy is twice as strong: a free 2 kW system
for each 100 customers. SmartPower will be watching
developments there closely.
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| U.S.
EPA Honors Connecticut Climate Change Leadership |
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| Group’s
pioneering work will reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
promote clean energy
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named
the state of Connecticut’s Governor’s
Steering Committee on Climate Change as a recipient
of one of its 2005 Annual Climate Protection Awards.
The awards honor extraordinary accomplishments of individuals
and organizations that have made significant contributions
to protecting the environment.
The Steering Committee was selected because of its
groundbreaking work in developing a plan for reducing
Connecticut’s emission of greenhouse gases, pollutants
that contribute to climate change. Reducing fossil fuel
consumption through increased use of energy from clean
sources is a major component of the plan.
The steering committee, which was appointed in 2003,
consisted of the chairman of the Connecticut Clean Energy
Fund (CCEF), commissioners of the Departments of Environmental
Protection, Administrative Services, Public Utility
Control and Transportation; and the undersecretary of
the Office of Policy and Management.
Over two years, the group spearheaded an innovative,
comprehensive process involving stakeholders from the
public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors. Their
work, in which SmartPower participated, resulted in
Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan 2005. In February,
this plan received endorsement from the Environment,
Transportation, Commerce, and Energy & Technology
committees of the Connecticut General Assembly. The
plan consists of 55 recommendations whose implementation
will enable Connecticut to meet its 2010 and 2020 goals
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Connecticut is proud to receive this honor on
behalf of the many individuals, in particular the staff
and organizations who worked so hard to develop this
comprehensive climate action plan,” said Department
of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Gina
McCarthy, Chair of the Governor’s Steering Committee
on Climate Change. “The award is a testament to
Connecticut’s leadership and commitment in efforts
to reduce harmful pollution, improve energy efficiency
and reliability, strengthen our economy and improve
the overall quality of life.”
“Taking a leadership role in addressing climate
change was a logical step for the Connecticut Clean
Energy Fund,” says Bryan Garcia, the fund’s
director of energy market initiatives, who worked closely
with the group. “As an organization charged with
stimulating the production and use of clean energy in
the state, CCEF is keenly aware that a sound strategy
for reducing greenhouse gas emissions must involve replacing
energy from fossil fuels with energy from clean and
renewable sources such as solar, wind, water, biomass
and fuel cells.”
The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund provided more than
half of the $575,000 required to launch and carry out
Connecticut’s climate change initiative. The Connecticut
Department of Environmental Protection and the Emily
Hall Tremaine Foundation provided the remainder. CCEF
was also responsible for chairing the Governor’s
Steering Committee and leading and coordinating its
numerous activities and working groups.
The Climate Protection Award was presented at a ceremony
on May 4 in Washington, D.C. Representatives of the
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection accepted
the award on behalf of the Governor’s Steering
Committee.
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| The
Kids Are All Right |
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| NREL
Report Shows Growth in Utility Clean Energy Sales |
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| Rates
National Grid’s Renewable Energy Program in Top
10
The United States Department of Energy’s National
Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently released
its annual report on the status of clean power sales
and marketing across the country, and the news is good.
Customer choice programs continue to be a powerful stimulus
for growth in renewable energy supply. In 2004, sales
of renewable energy through utility clean energy programs
continued to exhibit strong growth, reaching 1.9 billion
kilowatt-hours (kWh).
NREL also named GreenUp, National Grid’s renewable
energy program, to its Top 10 ranking of utility green
power programs. Categories included total sales of renewable
energy to participants and total number of customer
participants. GreenUp ranked as sixth in both categories
out of nearly 130 programs in 34 states, according to
the NREL.
Almost 15,000 customers from National Grid utilities
Niagara
Mohawk, Massachusetts
Electric and Narragansett
Electric purchased more than 88 million kilowatt-hours
of renewable energy through GreenUp in 2004, the company
said.
“National Grid is pleased to offer our customers
the option of supporting renewable energy and we are
grateful to them for making GreenUp such a success,”
said Michael Jesanis, the company’s president
and chief executive officer. “GreenUp’s
success also comes from the foresight of state energy
policy-makers in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island
as well as the collaboration between National Grid and
the program’s participating renewable energy providers."
Customer choice programs continue to be a powerful
stimulus for growth in renewable energy supply, said
Lori Bird, a senior energy analyst at NREL. “Customer
participation in utility green power programs continues
to grow across the country,” Bird said. “These
utilities are the national leaders.”
GreenUp requires participating renewable energy providers
to secure renewable energy resources – such as
wind, bioenergy (landfill gas, for example) or hydropower
– and offer it to National Grid customers. After
a customer selects a renewable energy provider, that
provider notifies the utility of the customer’s
decision. National Grid’s supply portfolios receive
the energy on behalf of the customer and the local utility
remains responsible for all service to the customer.
Utility green pricing programs are one segment of a
larger green power marketing industry that counts more
than one-half million customers nationwide and helps
support more than 1,600 MW of renewable electricity
generation capacity. For more information on NREL’s
report, see the NREL
press release. For more information on GreenUp,
see the Niagara
Mohawk website, the Massachusetts
Electric website or the Narragansett
Electric website.
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