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EPA FIRST FEDERAL AGENCY TO BUY 100 PERCENT GREEN POWER

Release Date: 7/23/1999
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-2201, Luke Hester, U.S. EPA, (202) 260-1383

Richmond Lab to Cut 2.3 Million Pounds in Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions

     SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that its laboratory in Richmond, Calif. is the first federal government building in the country entirely powered by renewable energy.

     Under the terms of a new three-year agreement between the EPA and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District that just went into effect, SMUD has replaced system power with 100 percent green power.  
     
     Green power is electricity generated from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, biomass and landfill gas. It is transmitted to users the same way as power generated by traditional sources, but it does not have the negative environmental impacts of fossil fuel, which is the major source of electricity in the United States.

     "Pollution from electricity generation is a major contributor to health and environmental problems such as smog, acid rain, toxic air pollutants, and global climate change.  By making this purchase, EPA is leading the federal government in the use of non-polluting, renewable energy," said EPA Administrator Carol Browner.  "Green power is a wise investment in a cleaner, brighter future."

     Since electric utility deregulation took effect in California last year, roughly half of the residential consumers who have switched electricity suppliers have chosen green power despite its higher price.  Some California retailers, manufacturers, and local governments -- including Chula Vista and Santa Monica -- have already committed to buying green power.

     "By making a choice for green power, customers can make a difference for the environment," said Linda Davis, President of SMUD's Board of Directors.  "SMUD is proud to have been selected to provide EPA with green power, and hopes that other federal agencies will follow EPA's lead."

     The EPA's green power purchase in California is consistent with President Clinton's Executive Order #13123 announced two months ago, which calls upon federal agencies to purchase electricity from renewable energy sources.  

     "As demand for renewable energy increases because of federal purchasing, an expanded market will lead to lower costs, greater utilization, and long term national security, economic and environmental benefits," said Bill Richardson, U.S. Secretary of Energy.

     GSA Ready to Help All Federal Agencies Buy Green Power

     The U.S. General Services Administration   the agency that provides contracting, supply and property management services for the federal government -- led the bidding process for finding the best proposal to supply the Richmond Lab with green power.  Recent changes in federal purchasing regulations now explicitly direct federal agencies to seek out environmentally preferable products.

     "In this era of energy deregulation, GSA can help federal agencies easily buy green power for their buildings at significant savings," said Dave Barram, GSA Administrator.  Noting that deregulation is giving the government an opportunity to influence the market for renewable energy, Barram added that, "The federal government is the single largest electricity consumer in the United States.  GSA is committed to using its expertise in negotiating contracts that will increase green power's portion of the $3.5 billion the federal government spends each year on electricity."

          California Environment Wins with Green Power

     During the first year of the new EPA-SMUD agreement, geothermal energy will provide 60 percent of the energy for the EPA laboratory, with the remaining 40 percent projected to come from the landfill gas generation source being built by Sacramento County at the Kiefer Landfill.  In future years all of the electricity will come from the landfill.  Methane gas, produced as trash in a landfill decomposes, is a source of energy that is not often used.  Typically it is either burned in a flare or it escapes into the atmosphere, both of which contribute to air pollution and global climate change.    
     SMUD will provide the EPA's Richmond Region 9 Laboratory with electricity service of about 1.8 million kilowatt hours per year, enough for about 200 average American homes.  The substitution of green power for standard electric power to supply the laboratory will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 2.3 million pounds per year (2,318,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent).  This will produce environmental benefits equivalent to permanently reducing more than 2 million passenger car miles driven per year.

     "Government purchasing can do for green power the same thing it has done for recycled paper and other environmentally preferable products.  When the government first started buying recycled paper back in the 1970's, it was expensive and difficult to find.  Today recycled paper is competitively priced, commonplace, and essentially indistinguishable from virgin paper.  Government leadership in purchasing can play a critical role in moving us toward an environmentally sustainable future," Browner said.

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