Sept. 24, 2007
City of Beaverton becomes EPA Green Power Community
City also exceeds PGE Green Power Challenge goal
Beaverton, Ore. — Beaverton residents will soon be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an EPA Green Power Community, becoming the fifth community in Oregon to receive the designation. The federal agency extends the honor to communities that show their environmental commitment by purchasing renewable energy in amounts that meet or exceed EPA purchase requirements. Mayor Rob Drake will accept the honor on behalf of the citizens at the city council meeting on Monday, Oct. 1.
Portland General Electric officials will arrive at the meeting with more good green power news: Beaverton electricity customers have surpassed the Beaverton Green Power Challenge goal of 250 new renewable power enrollments set by Beaverton City Council. The community-wide challenge, announced in June, resulted in 590 sign-ups for renewable energy from PGE. The city and the utility created the challenge to encourage more use and awareness of environmentally friendly power.
More than 4,300 residences and businesses in Beaverton are currently enrolled in one of PGE’s renewable energy programs.
“I am proud to be the mayor of a community committed to clean energy and environmental stewardship,” Mayor Rob Drake said. “We received the EPA honor and exceeded our green power challenge goal because the city residents, business community and local government share these values.”
In June, Beaverton announced it had purchased green power for all of its city facilities, becoming the first local government in PGE’s service territory to do so.
“America is shifting to a 'green culture,' with more and more people understanding that environmental responsibility is everyone's responsibility,” said Marcus Peacock, EPA's deputy administrator. “EPA commends the community of Beaverton, Oregon, for making a long-term commitment to protecting the environment by purchasing green power.”
EPA Oregon Operations Office Director Socorro Rodriguez will present the Green Power Community certificate to the mayor.
Beaverton is among only 11 communities in the United States to earn this designation, five of them in Oregon. Green Power Community campaigns show the possibilities of collective action and successful partnership between local government, businesses, residents and local organizations.
The designation goes only to communities that voluntarily meet or exceed the agency’s minimum green power purchase requirements. For Beaverton, that is 2 percent of all kilowatt hours consumed by the
community as a whole. The community is at 3 percent, representing use of almost 52 million kilowatt-hours of renewable power over a year. That reduces an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emissions associated with more than 5,800 passenger cars annually, according to U.S. EPA estimates.
“This is a very visible commitment to the future by the leadership and citizens of Beaverton,” Steve Hawke, PGE senior vice president for customer service and delivery, told the meeting. “The mayor and council took the first step when they ordered renewable power for city facilities back in June and issued a green power challenge to the citizens. That’s leadership by example — a tremendous role model for other Oregon governments.”
Rodriguez will present the community with two colorful street signs reading, “Welcome to a Green Power Community. We exceed EPA guidelines for buying clean, renewable energy.” The signs will be posted at high-visibility locations in Beaverton.
PGE’s renewable power options
PGE’s residential and small business customers in Beaverton and elsewhere can continue to purchase renewable energy by enrolling at www.PortlandGeneral.com/Renewable or by calling 800-542-8818*. PGE currently offers customers two green power products — Green SourceSM and PGE’s Clean Wind SM. Customers can include an environmental supplement, Habitat SupportSM, which provides funding for salmon habitat restoration projects administered by The Nature Conservancy of Oregon.
PGE was named the 2006 Green Power Program of the year by the EPA and Department of Energy (DOE). According to the latest national figures, PGE sold more renewable power to residential customers than any other utility in the United States in 2006. There are currently more than 56,000 PGE customers participating in PGE’s renewable options program.
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* Customers will not have electricity from a specific generation facility delivered directly to their house or business. Their purchase causes renewable power to be delivered to the Northwest power grid equal to their household’s annual electricity use or a portion thereof, depending on the product they choose.
About PGE
PGE, headquartered in Portland, is a fully integrated electric utility that serves more than 800,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon.
About EPA’s Green Power Partnership
EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The Partnership currently has hundreds of Partners voluntarily purchasing billions of kilowatt hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500 companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, trade associations, as well as colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
For more information, contact:
Mark Fryburg, PGE,
503-464-8481
Rob Drake, Mayor, City of Beaverton,
503-526-2481
