August 27, 2003 (Portland, Ore.) — Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) announced today a commitment from Oregon State University (OSU) to support clean renewable electricity generation from resources located in the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s important when prominent public institutions like Oregon State make meaningful commitments to supporting renewable energy,” said Angus Duncan, BEF’s President. “With the university on board, this sends a signal to other educational institutions that supporting renewable energy is a viable option – one that its students, faculty and community all appreciate.”

OSU has committed to support the production of 5 million kilowatt hours of clean wind power over the next four years. This represents a savings of approximately 3,550 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The purchase is made possible through a state-required public purpose charge equal to three percent of OSU’s total electrical bill. The public purpose charge applies to most residential, industrial and commercial electrical consumers in Oregon. State law allows large consumers, like OSU, to “self-direct” some of the three percent charge to fund conservation measures and other qualified programs like Green Tags.

“At OSU, we are making good progress towards reducing our negative environmental impact. The Green Tag purchase will fit nicely with our other measures to promote sustainability on and off campus and to open doors and minds to more aggressive natural resource conservation and protection. Certifying our new ‘green’ buildings, updating our campus master plan and examining daily operations are all complemented by a relatively simple and effective BEF program,” said Brandon Trelstad, staff member at OSU.

Purchasing Green Tags supports the production of wind and solar electricity from new facilities in the Pacific Northwest. Because BEF is a nonprofit institution, net revenues from Green Tag sales are reinvested into increasing the electrical generation capacity of renewable energy. By purchasing Green Tags, buyers are providing critical additional financial support to bring new renewable resources into the region's power supply.

Because of the relatively large size of OSU’s Green Tag purchase, the university and BEF are working to identify a local renewable energy project, such as a solar photovoltaic array. This future project would further leverage the investment BEF and OSU have made to promote environmentally sound electrical energy production.

“Such an array may offset only a very small percentage of OSU energy use, but would primarily serve to demonstrate increasingly practical alternatives to fossil fuel power production,” said Trelstad. “It also ties in well with the mission of OSU as a land, sea, and space grant institution.”

About OSU
Located in Corvallis, Oregon, OSU offers its students access to world-class faculty and academic resources. Outstanding programs, people, and location make Oregon State an exciting and vibrant university -- one that is internationally renowned. Oregon State University is Oregon's land grant, sea grant, and space grant university, with nearly 19,000 students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. Visit OSU on the web at: www.oregonstate.edu.

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 current member of the US Green Building Council, 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 develop new renewable energy resources (including solar, wind and biomass energy). 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 but independent of both.

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