Press Releases

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Honors CEI Customers

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently honored a group of customers with their annual Green Power Purchaser Awards at the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference. Three Community Energy customers – The Estée Lauder Companies, ING, and the University of Pennsylvania – each took home honors for their commitment to build a green power market.

For the eighth consecutive year, a Community Energy customer won a Green Power Leadership Award. The awards are hosted by the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Center for Resource Solutions. Estée Lauder and ING won awards for their purchases of Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), while the EPA honored the University of Pennsylvania, already a two-time award winner, as a Green Power Partner of the Year.

The University of Pennsylvania buys nearly 193 million kilowatt-hours of wind-generated RECs, an amount equivalent to 46 percent of its total purchased electricity use. The purchase is large enough to have placed Penn on both the National Top 25 and Top 10 Colleges and Universities purchaser lists. The EPA recognized Penn as a Green Power Leadership Award winner in 2002 and as a Green Power Partner of the Year in 2003.

"We wanted to get into the renewable-energy market and make a big impact. It's a new world, and I'm thrilled that the University is making a lot of progress," said Dan Garofalo, Penn’s Sustainability Coordinator.

ING purchases more than 75 million kilowatt-hours of wind-generated RECs, an amount equivalent to 100 percent of the electricity consumption for all of its U.S. operations. A corporate-wide greening effort called “Orange Goes Green” educates employees about renewable energy.

ING is a responsible corporate citizen around the globe, and we are committed to helping ensure sustainable communities where we conduct business and where our employees live. Purchasing energy credits for all of our U.S. operations is just one of many initiatives that the company is implementing to mitigate ING's impact on the environment," said Catherine Smith, the CEO of
ING U.S. Insurance.

The Estée Lauder Companies’ purchase of 36 million kilowatt-hour REC purchase equates to 100 percent of the electricity use at its U.S. manufacturing, distribution, research and development, and owned office spaces. The company’s U.S. purchase is part of a larger initiative to reduce its green house gas emissions, which also includes purchases for global facilities, and preferential status to company’s suppliers that use green power.

"We are proud to receive recognition from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency," states Mike Jaklitsch, Vice President, Environmental Affairs & Safety. "When it comes to our impact on the communities we touch, we use the same standards of excellence to examine our environmental footprint that we use in creating our products. We hope our purchase will encourage other organizations to follow in our path to reducing negative impacts to the environment."

Community Energy, Inc. (CEI) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IBERDROLA RENEWABLES – the world’s leading provider of wind power with more than 8,000 MW of wind power in operation globally.  CEI cites its utility partners and customers as the reason for its success in expanding the national wind energy market. IBERDROLA RENEWABLES, Inc. has developed new wind projects throughout the US. For more information, please visit www.NewWindEnergy.com.