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Safeway Makes Huge Purchase of Wind Power, Joins
the Chicago Climate Exchange
October 3, 2006
Safeway Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Steve Burd announced
last month the purchase of 78 million kilowatt-hours of wind energy.
The purchase is enough electricity to power Safeway corporate
headquarters in Pleasanton, California, and all of its fuel stations
nationwide.
With this purchase, Safeway becomes the sixth largest
consumer of wind generated electricity in the United States. The
company also joins the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green
Power Partnership, which is a group of companies that pledge to
obtain a portion of their electricity consumption from renewable
energy. See the Safeway September 14 press release:
http://shop.safeway.com/corporate/safeway/windenergy_nr_20050914.asp
Burd made the announcement after applauding the
California Legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger for passing the
landmark California Climate Change Act of 2006. He said Safeway
looks forward to providing innovative solutions to meet its targets
and achieve a healthier environment.
One of the power plants that Safeway purchases wind
electricity from is located in Lamar, Colorado. See the wind power
plant profile on the Safeway website at:
http://shop.safeway.com/corporate/safeway/windenergy/windenergy_lamar.htm
Safeway also announced that it has joined the Chicago
Climate Exchange (CCX), which is a registry and trading program for
greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Membership in CCX
commits the company to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by
390,000 tons from its baseline emissions in 2000. Safeway is the
first retail company in North America to join the exchange. A
company spokesperson says it plans to reduce emissions through a
corporate-wide energy efficiency program that includes cost
effective building designs and demand management at its stores.
Safeway, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company and one of the
largest food and drug retailers in North America. The company
operates 1,776 food retail stores and 270 fuel stations in the
United States and Canada and is one of the largest supermarket
chains in Colorado.
Source: September 29 edition of the American Wind
Energy Associations newsletter, Wind Energy Weekly. |
