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City of Plattsburg, Missouri signs up for green electricity through Ameren's Pure Power
City to become become Missouri’s first U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Community.
The trees along Clay Avenue give a lush welcome to anyone that happens to take a summertime drive through Plattsburg, Mo. In fact, the roadside boasts enough green to earn the honor of Tree City USA from the Arbor Day Foundation. This weekend Plattsburg will go green in a new way. The community will hold a picnic lunch at 11:30 a.m. at the former Western Auto Building to celebrate its pledge to purchase a percentage of its electricity from green energy sources. Plattsburg will partner with AmerenUE to become Missouri’s first U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Community. The city has enrolled in Ameren’s Pure Power program, which asks customers to volunteer to pay an additional 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour that the company will use to purchase renewable energy credits. Plattsburg will purchase credits equal to 100 percent of the usage from homes and businesses enrolled in Pure Power. Community leaders hope to commit 5 percent of energy usage to the program to earn its status as a Green Power Community. Mayor James Kennedy will enroll his own home in Pure Power at Saturday’s event. “We want to reach that goal by April 2009,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Technically, we only need to have 3 percent participation to be an EPA Green Power Community, but we are setting a stretch goal for our citizens.” According to Ameren, that step will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 785,544 pounds per year — equal to taking 77 cars off the road or planting 81 acres of forest. Pure Power is part of Ameren’s new P.U.R.E Genius initiative, which stands for People Using Renewable Energy. Cindy Bambini of 3Degrees Group Inc., which manages the program for Ameren, praised Plattsburg for its role in supporting green power. “They have really stepped up to the plate, and their commitment will help support wind farms that are adding more green power to Missouri’s electrical grid,” she said. AmerenUE serves 1.2 million electric customers and 127,000 natural gas customers in a 24,000-square mile area in north, central and eastern Missouri.