BEF QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER
DECEMBER 2004

Happy Holidays from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Don’t know what to get someone for the holidays?
Give a gift of Green Tags!

Green Tags are the perfect gift for a friend or family member this holiday season. Your gift will help clean the air we breathe and reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources. Plus, when you purchase Green Tags between now and December 31, your gift recipient will receive a
free gift pack from Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters (B&B), the first green-powered coffee company in the U.S. The gift set includes a one-pound bag of B&B Fair Trade Certified, organic coffee from Costa Rica and a unique B&B coffee mug. Order before December 16 to ensure that the gift arrives before December 25!

Want to make your holiday climate neutral? Learn how to offset all of the negative impacts of your electricity, automobile and air travel during the holidays using our carbon calculator.

First Phase of Solar Project Complete

The Puget Sound Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee's (PSEJATC) Training Center in Renton, WA has gone solar! The 9-kilowatt solar electric power system was installed on the Training Center in August and September 2004 and is the first phase of a proposed 50-kilowatt system, which will make it the largest solar power installation in Washington State.

The project combines the efforts of the PSEJATC, Puget Sound Energy, BEF, the Apollo Alliance, and the National Photovoltaic Construction Partnership. BEF supported PSE’s participation by providing project management services and public education and outreach for PSE’s renewable energy investment program.

The Training Center's goal is to substantially increase the number of electricians qualified to design and install solar power systems, removing a critical bottleneck to the regional expansion of this fast-growing technology. In addition, a high profile installation by this well-regarded training institution will enhance the electrical industry’s understanding of new distributed electrical generating technologies.

Mohawk River Restoration Continues

Consistent with its long-standing commitment to support scientific and accountable watershed restoration, the Bonneville Environmental Foundation continues to support the Mohawk Watershed Partnership’s efforts to restore stream habitat and recover native salmon and trout in Oregon’s Mohawk River. BEF’s support for watershed restoration and monitoring in the Mohawk began in 2000 when BEF funded a comprehensive watershed-biological assessment that identified limiting ecological conditions and prioritized areas for restoration. In 2002, BEF reaffirmed its commitment to watershed restoration in the Mohawk with a three-year, $63,000 grant designed to support a comprehensive restoration and monitoring program in several key tributary streams within the watershed.

Over the past two years, continued funding from BEF has allowed the Mohawk Watershed Partnership to develop, implement, and monitor restoration projects in several critical areas of the watershed. “By 2004, local community interest and participation in grass roots restoration efforts had greatly exceeded our expectations,” said Todd Reeve, BEF’s Watershed Program Director. “In fact, with the success of this year’s efforts—and with several restoration projects already lined up for next year—the Mohawk Watershed Partnership is making tremendous progress towards restoring the conditions necessary to support native salmon and trout.”

BEF Honored with Green Power Awards

The annual Green Power Leadership Awards ceremony, held October 4, 2004 in conjunction with the National Green Power Marketing Conference recognized BEF, some of our leading customers, our utility partners, and one of our very own employees with four Green Power awards. The awards were hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Center for Resource Solutions.

The Western Washington Green Power campaign received the 2004 Green Power Leadership Award. The campaign combined the efforts of BEF, three regional utilities (Puget Sound Energy, Snohomish Public Utilities, and Tacoma Power), Belo Marketing Solutions (sister company to KING 5, the region’s largest broadcast television network), and Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters (B&B, a long-standing BEF customer). The participants collaborated on a multi-tiered marketing campaign to promote awareness of green power in the region. B&B donated 3,000 gift packs of gourmet coffee and coffee mugs to encourage utility customers to purchase green power. As a result of this campaign, more than 4,300 new customers joined the utilities’ green power programs, representing a 272 percent increase in the enrollment rate over the same period last year.

The 2004 Green Power Partner of the Year Award was presented to five organizations including Silk, one of BEF's largest customers. Erica Morgan of Maine Interfaith Power & Light, another BEF customer, was a runner-up for the 2004 Green Power Pilot Award and accepted the award on behalf of the Main Green Power Connection.

Ski Areas Partner with BEF

More and more ski areas are teaming up with BEF to support wind energy through Green Tags. Currently, the ski areas participating in the 2004-2005 Ski Green campaign include Cooper Spur, Hoodoo, Mission Ridge, Mt. Ashland, Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Hood Meadows, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Timberline Lodge, Ski Anthony Lakes, Stevens Pass, Schweitzer and Summit-at-Snoqualmie. Join us in the fight to reduce climate change! Next time you’re at your favorite ski area, let them know you appreciate their support for renewable energy and where offered, be sure to add a Mini-Green Tag to your lift pass. For more information, visit our friends at the Keep Winter Cool page or contact BEF at 1-866-BEF-TAGS (1-866-233-8247).

Featured Green Tag Customer: Flexcar Portland

BEF is delighted to have Flexcar Portland, the first car-sharing company in the nation, as one of our newest customers. Flexcar allows its members to reserve vehicles for hourly use whenever and wherever they need them, while Flexcar pays for the car, gas, insurance, maintenance and a parking space. A national study found that each car sharing vehicle takes 11 (yes, eleven!) cars off the road. One-third of Flexcar's vehicles are gas-electric hybrids, and Flexcar Portland is offsetting 100% of their electricity use through the purchase of BEF Green Tags. The company offsets all of the emissions of all of their vehicles, nationwide. "We applaud Flexcar's commitment to encouraging alternative modes of transportation and its creative solution to reducing air pollution," said Angus Duncan, BEF's President.

BEF to Install Five New Projects Across the U.S.

BEF will be coordinating the installation of five new small-scale renewable energy projects for a coalition of bands and individual band members who participated in the Vote for Change tour through a partnership with the Vote For Change Renewable Energy Project. “Bands who participated in the Vote for Change tour approached us with the desire to help mitigate the environmental effects of the tour,” Rob Harmon reports. “The band members have a deep commitment to the environment and walk the talk.” BEF will work with the bands and colleagues in each of the states where the bands played. The goal is to identify projects that need a little extra help to make it over the economic hurdles renewables still face in the U.S.