City Becomes EPA Green Power Partner

The City of Mercer Island has become a member of the Green Power Partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to a city press release.

Membership in this free, voluntary program provides the City assistance with procuring electricity generated from renewable, "green" resources. Green energy purchases help reduce the risk of climate change and minimize environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use.

As authorized by Mercer Island City Council last April, the city spent $6,000 to purchase 36.5 percent of its electricity needs from Puget Sound Energy's Green Power program — a fund which supports the use and development of alternative, "clean" energy from renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, low-impact biomass, and low-impact hydro.

Mercer Island joins more than 1,300 Partner organizations in the program including dozens of Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, and other local and state governments. The city is the fourth in the state, after Bellingham, Lacey and Olympia, to join.

According to the Green Power Partnership website, purchasing green power helps fuel the development of new, domestic renewable energy sources. Additional benefits of the partnership include formal recognition that the City's green power use meets nationally accepted standards. The partnership also allows the City access to EPA communications tools and resources.

has also been supportive of several grassroots efforts to reduce the city's environmental impact by reducing its carbon footprint in other ways, such as through the and the .

The city and PSE are also currently promoting a "" to encourage at least 625 local residents to pay at least $4 from their electricty bill towards funding PSE's Green Power program.

Additional information about the partnership, as well as educational information on green issues, science/technology, and laws/regulations, is available on the EPA website.

(Ed. Note: The information in the story is from a City of Mercer Island press release.)