June 1, 2003 (Portland, Ore.) -- It's another first for the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and the City of Ashland. BEF will serve as the supplier of wind energy certificates for City of Ashland utility customers. Under terms of the three-year agreement, the utility will direct its customers to BEF for Green Tags (also know as Tradable Renewable Energy Credits) from wind and solar facilities located in Oregon and Washington. One dollar from each Green Tag sold to Ashland customers will be targeted to new renewable energy facilities located in the City.
“BEF's relationship with the City of Ashland began in 1999 as both a buyer of our initial supply of green power and as one of our first grant recipients for the Solar Ashland project,” said Angus Duncan, BEF's president. “Now we are setting another first as the utility sends their customers to BEF to buy their green power product. It is the first time we have had such a supplier relationship with a utility.”
Utility representative Dick Wanderscheid explains, “Although about 5% of the total power the City provides its customers comes from wind and low-impact hydropower, some wanted the option of purchasing additional green power. Under this agreement, our customers will actually sign up for this program by going to the BEF web site, calling BEF toll free or using a sign up form they can request from the utility. Partnering with BEF gives us and our customers a quality green power product with significant investment in building future renewable energy facilities.”
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit organization, all of BEF’s net-revenues from Green Tags sales are reinvested into building additional renewable energy resources throughout the Northwest, or into critical watershed restoration work. Along with BEF’s support of utility-scale wind energy, the Foundation and its partners have installed over 100 kW of electricity from new solar resources. Recent solar projects include Portland’s Brewery Blocks, West Salem High School and the region’s largest solar installation -- at 40 kilowatts -- on the site of the former Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Together with its watershed program, BEF has committed over one million dollars to environmental projects across the Pacific Northwest.
About Green Tags
Green Tags are certificates that represent the environmental benefits from a specific amount of electricity from a wind turbine, solar panel or other renewable energy source. When non-polluting energy displaces energy produced from burning fossil fuels, there is a corresponding savings in greenhouse gases (primarily carbon dioxide) that is captured as the Green Tag.
BEF’s Green Tags are certified by Green-e (www.green-e.org) and designated Climate Cool by the Climate Neutral Network as having a net zero impact on the climate while also displacing fossil fuel generated electricity and approximately 1,400 pounds of C02 emissions per Green Tag (www.climateneutral.com). The new renewable energy resources that produce BEF’s Green Tags are certified by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Renewable Northwest Project and the Northwest Energy Coalition.
About BEF
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a non-profit organization, was established in 1998 to further the development and use of new renewable energy resources. Through revenues generated from the sales of green power products, BEF funds projects that restore damaged watersheds and support new renewable energy projects from solar, wind and biomass. BEF pioneered the sale of Green Tags in 1999 and has helped establish national standards for certification and trading. Created by regional environmental groups and the Bonneville Power Administration, the Foundation operates collaboratively with but independent of both.
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