February 7, 2003—Washington, D.C.s American University, World Wildlife Fund, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Norm Thompson Outfitters, and Ecoprint have joined the growing list of businesses and institutions buying pollution-free, wind-generated electricity.
The electricity will be supplied by the Mountaineer Wind Energy Center, the largest wind generating facility in the Eastern United States with 44 turbines, which began operating in December 2002.
Washington Gas Energy Services is the first electricity provider in the nation’s Capital to offer CEI’s NewWind Energy product to all of its customers. “As these businesses and institutions step forward to lead the effort to improve our environment, WGES is pleased to be able to provide them with locally-generated, competitively-priced clean wind energy,” said Harry Warren, President of WGES.
American University has committed to buying 5% of its electricity from wind power for at least the next five years. In September last year, the US Army, Catholic University, and National Geographic Society all announced groundbreaking purchases of wind energy.
Norm Thompson Outfitters, a $200 million catalog retailer based in Portland, Oregon, is purchasing almost 20% of the power output of a wind turbine for its Kearneysville, West Virginia, distribution center. World Wildlife Fund, with 1.2 million members in the United States, is purchasing ten percent of the power for its Washington, DC building from wind energy.
Ecoprint, a printing and mail services company in Silver Spring, Maryland, has become the first Washington, D.C. area business committed to buying 100% of its electricity from this wind program-continuing its leadership of business sustainability.
Also in Washington, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance has become the first known non-profit organization to commit to getting 100% of its electricity from wind power.
The recent purchases from residential, small commercial, and institutional customers create a demand for the output of 2.2 of the Mountaineer facility’s 44 wind turbines. Together with earlier commitments, approximately 25% of the facility’s output is now under contract to regional end-users, totaling approximately 40,000,000 kilowatt-hours.
For more information, contact NewWind Energy.
