Today, the City of Urbana was named a “Green Power Community” by the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency. This accolade comes as a result of Urbana’s continued commitment to zero-emission electricity, usually that which his procured via solar panels or windmills, among other things.
Congrats, Urbana!
From the press release:
Urbana has been named a Green Power Community by the U.S. EPA for its ongoing use of green power through the city’s municipal electric aggregation program.
Green power is zero-emissions electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact hydro. Using green power helps build demand for the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide and helps users reduce their carbon footprints.
“We are proud to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for our green power use,” said Scott Tess, Environmental Sustainability Manager. “By making the choice to use clean, renewable energy, our community becomes more sustainable, while also sending a message to others across the United States that using green power is a sound business decision and an important tool in reducing one’s carbon footprint in the fight against climate change.”
Urbana’s decision back in 2012 to use green power with its municipal electric aggregation program is helping to advance the green power market and support clean renewable energy alternatives. The aggregation program provides 100 percent green power through the purchase of renewable energy certificates for all residential and small business participants.
The purchase of green power is just one aspect of Urbana’s energy and climate initiatives. The City recently concluded a bulk solar purchasing program which facilitated the sale of 605 kilowatt hours of solar capacity throughout Champaign County.
Urbana is now one of 61 Green Power communities nationally. Urbana ranks 16th among those 61 communities with 83.5 million kilowatt hours of annual power usage, and 24th among those communities with green power comprising nearly 21 percent of total citywide electricity use.The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 60 Green Power Communities and 1,400 Partner organizations voluntarily using billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500® companies; small and medium sized businesses; local, state, and federal governments; and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
For more information:
City of Urbana, IL
Name: Scott R. Tess
Phone Number: 217-384-2381
Email: stress@urbanaillinois.usU.S. EPA
Name: Melissa Klein
Phone Number: 202-343-9207
Email: klein.melissa@epa.gov