Green Mountain Power and Clean Air -- Cool Planet Team Up To Help Customers to Fight Global Warming

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Green Mountain Power and Clean Air -- Cool Planet Team Up To Help Customers to Fight Global Warming

Renewable Energy Development Will Reduce Greenhouse Gas

VERMONT, COLCHESTER, May. 6 -/E-Wire/-- With a novel approach, Green Mountain Power (NYSE: GMP) and an environmental nonprofit Clean Air -- Cool Planet (CA-CP) have joined forces to enable Green Mountain Power's customers to help build new renewable energy resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Through two programs called "CoolHome(SM)" and "CoolBusiness(SM)", CA-CP will keep carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air for each participant by helping to build a new wind turbine and a Vermont farm methane system that will reduce consumption of fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels is the primary source of the greenhouse gases - principally CO2 - that contribute to global warming.

For a one-time donation of just $60, each CoolHome(SM) participant will help to offset 6 tons of CO2 emissions - the amount of an average Vermont home's annual heating fuel and electricity use. With the CoolBusiness(SM) program, businesses learn how much CO2 emissions they cause and choose the amount they wish to offset. Green Mountain Power has taken the lead by offsetting a year's worth of CO2 emissions - 290 tons - from both powering and heating its corporate and operations facility in Colchester.

"Offering this program to our customers is a natural extension of our corporate commitment to protecting the environment," said Stephen C. Terry, Senior Vice President of Green Mountain Power. "We already have an energy supply mix that is unusually low in emissions, and now our customers can choose to lessen the impact of the total energy use in their home. This program is much like the WARMTH support program, only here our customers can make donations to help fight global warming, in a similar way that our customers help low-income customers heat their homes," said Mr. Terry. "We also hope that other electric utilities will consider this new voluntary program as they develop ways customers can fight global warming," he added.

"The CoolHome(SM) and CoolBusiness(SM) programs provide a way for Green Mountain Power's customers to contribute to global warming solutions," says Adam Markham, Executive Director of CA-CP. "By helping build new renewable energy sources, we can neutralize the impact of our own energy use by causing reductions in fossil fuel emissions. We believe that Green Mountain Power is the first utility in the Northeast to offer its customers a way to offset their total energy use by supporting the development of new renewable resources."

CA-CP plans to work with Vermont-based NativeEnergy to acquire the emission reductions because NativeEnergy's services drive the construction of new renewable generators, nationally and locally, creating new environmental benefits.

The CoolHome(SM) program will help build the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Wind Turbine Project in South Dakota, the first Native American owned and operated large-scale wind turbine. It will displace electricity that would otherwise come mostly from burning coal "upwind" from Vermont.

About half of the CO2 emission reductions will come from a new farm- methane project in Bradford, Vermont that will eliminate lagoon storage of manure, and capture and use methane gas. The project will avoid direct emissions of methane gas and will displace fossil fuel use for the space and process heat.

"Even though Vermont's electricity mix is a relatively low CO2 emission source, we can help place wind turbines in other areas that are not as fortunate, and utilize those reductions to offset the CO2 emissions from our heating and other fossil fuel use. The Vermont farm project can directly address local farm waste and energy use right here at home," says Tom Boucher, President & CEO of NativeEnergy.

All money donated will go directly to CA-CP for renewable energy programs. Green Mountain Power will retain none of the donation proceeds.

Green Mountain Power Corporation is a Vermont-based energy services company serving 87,000 electric customers. See more info at www.greenmountainpower.biz including the new CoolHome program information at www.greenmountainpower.biz/coolhome.

Clean Air - Cool Planet is an action-oriented environmental group working directly with corporations, communities, and campuses to develop and implement voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction efforts. A 501(c)(3) qualified non-profit organization, CA-CP works throughout the Northeast to provide practical solutions that demonstrate the economic opportunities and environmental benefits associated with early actions on climate change. CA-CP works directly with a growing number of companies and institutions that exemplify leadership and social responsibility, including Shaw's Supermarkets, The Timberland Company, Tufts University, Middlebury College, and The University of New Hampshire. See www.cleanair-coolplanet.org

NativeEnergy is located in N. Ferrisburgh, VT, and offers individuals and businesses simple, effective, and verifiable ways to fight global warming and climate change. NativeEnergy's patent-pending business process offers a convenient alternative to buying green electricity and is dedicated exclusively to driving the construction of new wind farms and other renewables to create new environmental benefits. More info is available at www.nativeenergy.com

Green Mountain Power Corporation

Green Mountain Power: Dotty Schnure, [REDACTED-PHONE];

Clean Air â Cool Planet: Kate Mackay, [REDACTED-PHONE];

NativeEnergy: Tom Boucher, [REDACTED-PHONE]

http://www.greenmountainpower.biz/coolhome

http://www.cleanair-coolplanet.org

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