A Wind Supporter By-Passes His Utility

Tom Gray of Norwich, Vermont can't buy green power from his local utility because it doesn't offer the option. So he decided to purchase tradable renewable certificates from a wind project in Madison, New York owned by PG&E's National Energy Group.

"I feel good about this because I am offsetting a chunk of the pollution I'm responsible for, plus I'm supporting the development of new wind turbines," said Gray.

Gray, who is the communications director for the American Wind Energy Association, looked at his monthly electric bills and estimated his annual electricity use. Then he decided how much of that he wanted to offset with clean generating wind power. He bought 8 certificates, each for 1,000 kWh, at a price of $.04 per kWh ($40 per certificate), for a total cost of $320. This amounts to $27 per month or about one-fourth of his average electric bill.)

Kinko’s—A Multi-State, 
Multi-Store Case Study

  Kinko’s vision for a cleaner and healthier environment includes renewable energy. A national printing chain, Kinko’s began purchasing green power in 1999 as a means to help fulfill the company’s six-point Environmental Vision Statement.

At first, Kinko’s established green power agreements in California and Pennsylvania. Within four months, the company purchased nearly 800,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy.

To expand on this success, Kinko’s focused on recruiting new green power subscribers. The company invited more than 6,000 California and Pennsylvania employees to join its “Friends and Family Program” and offered new members $30 in Starbucks, Blockbuster, and Ben & Jerry’s coupons. In addition, many Kinko’s branches displayed green power information from their energy suppliers on store counters and signed up customers. As a result of this campaign, more than 100 residential energy customers joined the program.

In 2000, Kinko’s set out to extend its renewable energy purchase plan to branches in other states. Although the fluctuating status of regulated and deregulated energy markets across the country was a barrier, Kinko’s carefully researched, then signed agreements with 10 utility and energy providers for facilities in Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana and New York with in a 17-month period.

In 2001 the company is pursuing green power purchasing opportunities in Texas, Nebraska and New Jersey. It is also monitoring energy and green power supply stability and developing contingency renewable energy strategies, particularly for branches in California, Pennsylvania and Colorado. To mid-2001, Kinko’s has provided 124 branches in 10 states with green power and continues its vigilant efforts to improve the company’s environmental performance.