Pacific Power greens holiday lights with renewable energy
From the Benton County Holiday Celebration to the downtown Portland Christmas lighting to the Madras Chamber of Commerce and City of Madras production of A Christmas Fantasy, communities throughout Oregon and Washington are getting support from Blue Sky participants to “green” the electricity used to power their holiday lights.
Together, these holiday lighting displays are being “greened” with about 195 megawatt hours of renewable energy. The impact of this effort allows communities to reduce their carbon footprint tied to their holiday lights’ electricity use by a combined 176,246 pounds of CO2.
“Powering lights for community holiday celebrations is a century-old tradition for Pacific Power.” said Berit Kling, Blue Sky program manager. “Blue Sky customers have been “greening” the holiday lights in communities across the service area for more than 10 years. It’s a great way to join in the holiday festivities while raising awareness for the value of renewable energy.”
Communities greening their holiday light displays this year include:
Albany, Ore. Cannon Beach, Ore. Corvallis, Ore. Dayton, Wash. Lebanon, Ore. Lincoln City, Ore. Madras, Ore. Medford, Ore. Portland, Ore. Prineville, Ore. Redmond, Ore. Seaside, Ore.
Pacific Power customers can also celebrate the season by greening their own homes and businesses. Through Blue Sky, customers can choose to support renewable energy equal to all or part of their energy use and start reducing their carbon footprint today.
“Blue Sky customers support wind, solar and other renewable sources,” said Kling. “The program helps customers reduce their carbon footprint and helps drive demand for more renewable energy in our region. While Pacific Power is always bringing more renewable energy into our basic service mix, some customers want to do more now and Blue Sky gives those customers a chance to match up to 100 percent of their energy use with renewable energy today.”
Last year, Blue Sky participants supported more than 777,000,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy and reduced their combined carbon footprints by 318,674 tons of CO2. Together, they supported enough renewable energy to travel from the Oregon coast to the tip of Maine 350,298 times in an electric vehicle.
You can join more than 125,000 current Blue Sky participants by calling Pacific Power at 1-800-769-3717 or by visiting www.pacificpower.net/bluesky. Blue Sky is an opt-in program. You can increase participation or withdraw at any time.
Environmental benefits derived by comparing the Blue Sky mix with Green-e Residual Mix Emission Rates for US Customers (WECC) April 2017. Green-e Energy does not certify or verify carbon emissions claims or methodologies for calculating emissions related to biomass. EV electricity consumption based on 2015 average efficiency of top-selling US EV brands (see https://energy.gov/downloads/egallon-methodology)
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About Blue Sky
Blue Sky has ranked in the top five nationally for the number of customers participating and for renewable power sales volume. The program is Green-e Energy certified, which means the renewable energy supported meets the rigorous national environmental and consumer-protection standards established by the nonprofit Center for Resource Solutions. For more information or to join over 125,000 Pacific Power customers participating in the Blue Sky program, visit www.pacificpower.net/bluesky.
About Pacific Power
Pacific Power provides electric service to more than 740,000 customers in Oregon, Washington and California. Our goal is to provide our customers with value for their energy dollar, and safe, reliable electricity. Pacific Power is part of PacifiCorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, with almost 1.9 million customers in six western states. For more information, visit www.pacificpower.net.
