Manhattan School Trims Carbon Footprint

March 1, 2008
The Collegiate School in New York has partnered with Juice Energy Inc., to reduce its carbon footprint. Since mid-February, the school has purchased green

The Collegiate School in New York has partnered with Juice Energy Inc., to reduce its carbon footprint. Since mid-February, the school has purchased green power equal to its total usage of 639,000 kilowatt hours annually. This green power takes the form of green-e certified renewable energy credits supplied by wind farms in the western United States.

As one of many initiatives of Collegiate's CENIC (Collegiate with the Environment Naturally In Check) student-led environmental group, this action will prevent 385 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere, equivalent to taking more than 51 average American homes off of the electric grid for a year, every year. Collegiate is working with Juice Energy, White Plains, N.Y., which supplies universities, schools and businesses cost-effective management of volatile electricity prices and climate change solutions.

“Designing customized financial and green power solutions for schools and universities is an important part of the work we do,” says Deirdre Lord, co-founder and COO of Juice. “Companies come to us because our value proposition is different from anything else available in the electricity marketplace. As a result of superior rate structures and market access, we can drive electricity costs down, freeing up funding to purchase green power.”

“Juice helped us to understand the complexities of electricity and green power markets. They provide a completely innovative approach to buying traditional and green energy,” says Mark Gordon, plant director at Collegiate. “They've shared with us exactly what our costs will be, while educating us on all the green options available to us. Juice is also helping us educate our community about the decisions we've made.”

CENIC has introduced and supported a number of other significant changes, including expansion of the glass, metal and plastic recycling program, a successful lobbying effort to switch to 100 percent recycled copying paper, and establishment of a new recycling program for toxic ink cartridges, batteries and cell phones. With the help of Gordon, the group and school have installed solar-powered outdoor lights and rethought water usage.

For more information on Juice Energy's green power, check out www.juice-inc.com.