November 8, 2005

Environmental Watch: City Light looking at its needs in 2025

SEATTLE — Seattle City Light has started planning where it will get electricity from in 20 years, and will seek public input as part of the process. The first public meeting will be Nov. 14 at Seattle City Hall in the Bertha Knight Landes Room from 4 to 7 p.m. This will include a hearing under the Washington State Environmental Policy Act.

City Light's plan will forecast future needs and lay out strategies to fulfill them. Options include new resources, long-term supply contracts and conservation.

City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said City Light won't need to buy large amounts of new supply for the next several years, but the plan will look at the costs and associated risks.

Stakeholders in City Light's planning group include representatives from the Bullitt Foundation, Climate Solutions, Boeing Co., Northwest Energy Coalition, Bonneville Power Admininistration, Virginia Mason Medical Center and Amgen.

DEA speeds up switch to green power

PORTLAND — The Portland-based engineering firm David Evans and Associates says it will switch to using only green power by 2009, 16 years ahead of its original schedule.

DEA will increase its purchases of renewable energy credits called Green Tags. Last year DEA bought Green Tags for about 6 percent of its total electricity use. DEA came up with a strategy for sustainability in 2002 that called for eventually switching to 100 percent green power. After talking with the Portland-based Bonneville Environmental Foundation about Green Tags, DEA officials found they could get big discounts by switching sooner.

DEA has offices more than 900 employees, and 20 offices in five western states. Company-wide, it uses about 7 million kilowatt-hours per year. The company says its green power use will keep millions of pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from getting into the atmosphere.

"If we are to be stewards of our environment," said company Chairman David Evans, "we must understand sustainability and build sustainable practices" both inside and outside the office. DEA is collaborating on a national program for its employees to buy discounted Green Tags for home use.

Oregon professor wins USGBC award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Green Building Council gave a leadership award to University of Oregon Professor G. Z. Brown for his research.

Brown, an architecture professor, won the Green Building Council's leadership award partly for introducing a sustainable design curriculum at the university. Twenty years ago he founded the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, and continues to be a director.

Recipients will be presented with awards Thursday in Atlanta at the Green Building Council's Greenbuild Conference & Expo.

Others recognized for their work to promote green design include Gensler Architecture and individuals from BNIM Architects, Fletcher-Thompson and Alliance Architecture. The Kresge Foundation won for helping nonprofits pay for green features in their buildings, the Croxton Collaborative was honored for for coming up with "human-centered architecture," and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority won an award for promoting green building.

Spokane car dealer gets enviro award

SEATTLE — The Washington Environmental Council has picked a Spokane car dealer for its Backyard Hero award.

Chris Marr of the Foothills Auto Group was honored for his support of the recently passed clean cars legislation. "This matters to me because I feel that we are not here just to take up space," he said. "We are here to make a difference."

A bill signed into law last summer requires Washington to adopt cleaner car standards if Oregon does, too. The new standards would start in 2009, and require greater pollution controls than federal rules outlined in the Clean Air Act.

State Department of Ecology officials say motor vehicles in Washington are the source of more than half of air pollution emissions that cause cancer, asthma and other health problems. Ecology officials estimate pollution-related death and illness cost the state at least $500 million each year.

PCC helps promote green power

SEATTLE — PCC Natural Markets is offering free gifts to people who sign up to use green power in their homes. Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy helped set up the incentive program, "Buy Local and Green," which will run through Jan. 31, 2006.

Customers who sign up for green power at either utility can get a tote bag or a $10 gift card from PCC.

By paying a premium on their electric bills, customers help increase the amount of electricity from clean sources. Officials at the U.S. Department of Energy say about half of customers around the country can opt to buy renewable electricity directly from their power supplier.

A tenth of PCC's electricity for its seven stores comes from renewable sources such as wind and sun.

For more information, call Seattle City Light at (206) 684-3000 or Puget Sound Energy at (800) 562-1482. Also see http://www.greenupseattle.org or http://www.pse.com. Brochures are at PCC stores.