The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is putting its own energy use under the microscope, announcing Friday that it will power three of its research facilities in Cincinnati with 100% renewable energy sources. The EPA will receive 15,560,000 kWh of power annually over the next three years from Community Energy, Inc., a renewable energy marketing company. Community Energy will be supplying New Wind Power to the EPA from Exelon Power Team, Mill Run, Pa. The agency will also be receiving landfill gas energy from ComEd, a northern Illinois subsidiary of Community Energy.
"The Bush Administration has asked the government to be the first to conserve energy," says EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. "These purchases represent a creative and innovative approach to help solve our nation's energy crisis, while achieving tremendous environmental benefits and charting the way for the emerging green power market."
With the move to wind and biomass energy, the EPA claims it will be able to reduce its annual carbon dioxide emissions by 16,000 tons, nitrous oxide emissions by 112,000 lbs, and sulfur dioxide emissions by 246,000 lbs. The contract in Cincinnati is only the first step, however. The agency plans to receive 9% of electricity from green sources for facilities located in Richmond, Calif., Golden, Colo., Chelmsford, Mass., Manchester, Wash., and Cincinnati, Ohio by 2002.