PRESS ROOM
News Item
Palo Alto Has Top Green Program in Country
The City of Palo Alto has the number one renewable energy program in the U.S., according to the national Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Jan. 11, 2008
Colorado-based NREL said PaloAltoGreen, a voluntary green energy purchasing program, has a membership of one in five ratepayers.
While the national average for enrollment in similar programs is less than two percent, PaloAltoGreen saw a five percent membership increase in 2007.
PaloAltoGreen launched five years ago. For an additional 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour, ratepayers can volunteer to enroll in the green energy program. The city's utility department purchases nearly 41.5 million kWh of clean energy a year, NREL said, which offsets about 700 million pounds of harmful carbon dioxide.
"The City of Palo Alto is a leading example of the benefits of municipal utilities participating in green energy programs," said Jim Pope, general manager of NCPA. "Renewable energy public-private partnerships enable municipal utilities to offer the type of smart green energy pricing programs that ratepayers more often respond to – and more importantly – are enormously effective in reducing CO2 emissions."
The city estimates that the average additional expense to ratepayers in the program is less than $10 a month to purchase 100 percent renewable energy. PaloAltoGreen purchases a California blend of renewable energy from wind and solar generators in Davis, Pleasanton, San Ramon and Solano County – 97.5 percent of it is from wind with the remaining 2.5 percent from solar.
NREL is a national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.
PaloAltoGreen purchases a California blend of renewable energy from wind and solar generators in Davis, Pleasanton, San Ramon and Solano County – 97.5 percent of it is from wind with the remaining 2.5 percent from solar.
NREL is a national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.