Green Power News

THE RENEWABLE ENERGY DECISION

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Green Power News

May 18, 2012
Green Mountain Energy Expands into Rockland and Westchester Counties (NY): Green Mountain Energy is now offering its green power products for residents of Rockland and Westchester Counties, located in New York. Green Mountain Energy recently began offering its green power products to the residents of the City of White Plains, which provided green power options to residents of both counties. Rockland County residents can purchase Green Mountain Energy's Pollution Free product for a rate of 9.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Westchester County residents can purchase the Pollution Free product for 9.5 cents per kWh. Pollution Free electricity products are sourced from New York wind and hydro projects.

May 18, 2012
EPA Releases 2009 eGRID Data: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a new edition of the Emissions and Generation Integrated Resource Database (eGRID), which now contains 2009 data. eGRID is a comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the U.S. The release of the 2009 data also updates EPA's Power Profiler, which is an application that uses eGRID data to evaluate the environmental effects of electricity use.

May 18, 2012
Illinois Communities Opt for Green Power: The City of Evanston, Illinois selected Constellation Energy to be the city's community choice aggregation (CCA) electricity provider. Constellation Energy will provide Evanston with 100 percent renewable electricity for a term of 12 months at a rate of $.04797 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is about 38 percent lower than the city's current residential electric rate. The City of Peoria, Illinois selected Homefield Energy as the city's CCA electricity provider. Homefield Energy will provide 100 percent renewable electricity to Peoria over a two-year period, at a rate of $.0408 per kWh. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the Village of Oak Park, Illinois as a Green Power Community for choosing renewable energy sources for its CCA program. Oak Park uses 191 million kWh of green power annually, and ranks first among Green Power Communities in terms of the percentage green power, with about 83 percent of the village's total electricity use provided by green power.

May 18, 2012
Arizona Exempts Renewable Energy Certificates from State Sales Tax: The Arizona State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1229 (SB1229), exempting the sale or use of renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Arizona's transaction privilege tax, which is similar to a sales tax. SB1229 exempts the sale of RECs from transaction privilege taxes under both the retail sales provision and the utilities provision. The new legislation also exempts the sale or transfer of RECs from Arizona's use tax, which is a tax on the use, storage, or consumption of tangible personal property. Solar electricity generated by customers and sold back to utilities is also exempt from transaction privilege taxes under the new legislation.

April 30, 2012
Michigan State University Commits to Green Power: The Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees voted to adopt the university's Energy Transition Plan, which requires the campus to acquire 40 percent of its energy use from renewable sources by 2030, with the ultimate goal to be eventually powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The plan was created by the Energy Transition Steering Committee; a 24 member group of students, faculty and staff who developed the plan to help MSU meet its future energy needs while addressing energy costs and environmental impacts.

April 30, 2012
PG&E Announces New Green Power Program: Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) is seeking approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to offer a new green power program to begin in early 2013. PG&E will purchase renewable energy certificates to match the portion of each participating electric customer's energy that is not already covered by PG&E's eligible renewable energy deliveries. The Green Option program would allow customers to support 100 percent renewable energy, and PG&E expects that residential customers will pay about $6 each month to participate. PG&E plans to certify the Green Option through Green-e Energy, a program of the Center for Resource Solutions.

April 30, 2012
Maine Launches Green Power Program: The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) and 3Degrees announced the launch of Maine Green Power, a new state-wide voluntary green power program, which gives residents and businesses the opportunity to purchase locally produced renewable energy from solar, hydro, wind, biomass or other renewable energy projects located in the state. The Maine Green Power program will be available to customers of Central Maine Power, Bangor Hydro Electric Company, and Maine Public Service Company. Maine Green Power participants can purchase green power in 500 kilowatt-hour blocks.

April 30, 2012
Microsoft and McDonald's Join EPA Green Power Partnership: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its updated National Top 50 Green Power Partnership rankings, which recognize leading organizations for their voluntary green power efforts. Microsoft and McDonald's, who joined the EPA Green Power Partnership in March, both made the National Top 50 rankings. Microsoft ranked 3rd, with more than 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of annual green power usage, while McDonald's ranked 11th overall with 306 million kWh of annual green power usage. Intel and Kohl's retained the top two spots.

April 30, 2012
Cincinnati (OH) Offers 100% Green Power Option for Customers: The City of Cincinnati, Ohio announced the launch of its community choice aggregation (CCA) program, which will provide a 100 percent green electricity option for the city's eligible residents and small businesses. Cincinnati selected First Energy Solutions (FES) to be the city's green power provider, and will now negotiate a contract for a 100 percent green electricity supply. The city's CCA program is expected to begin in June, and it is estimated that eligible residential households who remain in the program will save about $133 per year on electricity costs. A portion of FES's green power product will come from local renewable energy sources, including renewable energy credits generated from the Cincinnati Zoo Solar canopy project.

April 17, 2012
Wellesley (MA) Program Achieves 10% Participation: Wellesley, Massachusetts residents and businesses are voluntarily supporting renewable energy. The town has achieved a 10 percent green power participation rate through Wellesley's Renewable Energy Program. Wellesley Municipal Light Plant customers have the power to choose renewable energy, generated primarily from the Spruce Mountain Wind Farm, for a portion or all of their electricity usage. Babson College, Massachusetts, recently joined Wellesley's Renewable Energy Program.