August 5, 2005 (Orlando, FL) – Students returning to the Orlo Vista school Monday saw the latest addition to the school grounds: a solar power system donated to the school in conjunction with a major international solar conference being held this week in Orlando, the 2005 Solar World Congress. The Orlo Vista system is the first of eight renewable energy projects to be installed around the U.S. with funding from a contingent of the artists who participated in last year’s Vote for Change concert tour, including Bonnie Raitt, the Dave Matthews Band, REM, and Pearl Jam.

Conceived by Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard, the effort reflects a growing trend among artists to address the environmental impacts of touring and performing around the country.  Several of the participating bands, for example, have purchased carbon offsets for prior tours, to mitigate the global warming impacts of the energy they used.  This time, the artists decided to support renewable energy projects in the states they visited last October during the concert tour, as a more visible and tangible demonstration of their commitment to addressing global warming and promoting a clean and sustainable energy future, and as gesture of thanks to the fans who supported the get-out-the-vote and fundraising tour.

“We wanted to create some visibility for the great work being done across the country in support of renewable energy, mostly at the state level,” said Gossard.  “Our goal was to engage local groups in each of the states in support of these projects, and to get them the recognition they deserve for their efforts.”

The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) is managing The Vote for Change Renewable Energy Project on behalf of the contributing artists.  BEF, an Oregon-based non-profit that supports renewable energy development and watershed restoration efforts, funds its mission primarily through the sale of renewable energy credits, which it calls Green Tags, both as a wholesale supplier to electric utilities and as a retailer to corporate, institutional, and residential customers across the U.S.  The foundation reinvests a portion of the net revenues from Green Tag sales in small-scale solar and wind power projects, and manages the siting and installation of these projects on behalf of its funding partners.

The Orlo Vista school project benefited from the support of many other partners, including the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program.  The project will serve as the latest ASES Legacy Adopt-A-School project, part of a program established in 2001 to support solar education, solar career development, and energy leadership in ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged communities where ASES holds its annual solar energy conference.

The 1.1-kilowatt (kW) solar power system provides a teaching, research, and hands-on demonstration opportunity for a generation of students.  The system is supplemented by a web-based monitoring system that provides real-time access to information regarding the system’s performance from any internet-enabled computer, at any time.

About BEF
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a non-profit organization, was established in 1998 to restore watershed ecosystems and 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 2000 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. More information is available on the web at
www.b-e-f.org.