HOOD RIVER, Ore. — Ground Espresso Bar & Café, a local coffee and food shop located at 12 Oak Street, celebrates today its first year in business. The company also is helping the environment by purchasing 10 blocks of Blue Sky renewable energy a month from Pacific Power.

Blue Sky enables customers to help bring more renewable energy into the region. Energy generated from wind, biomass, solar and geothermal helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Wind power produces no air pollutants, wastewater, smog or acid rain.

“Being in Hood River, it’s tough not to get involved in Blue Sky,” said Greg Johnson, Ground Expresso’s owner. “Jaimes Valdez, from Renewable Northwest Project, signed up a lot of local businesses.”

Over the course of a year, Ground Espresso’s Blue Sky purchase will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 12 tons, which has the same environmental benefit as not driving 27,500 miles or planting 2,340 trees.

“Ground Espresso’s Blue Sky purchase helps both the environment and the local economy,” said Diane Zipper, director of green power programs for Renewable Northwest Project. “The 47 other businesses and 535 residential customers in Hood River that also are signed up for green power are making a significant positive impact.”

Buying just one, 100-kilowatt hour increment of Blue Sky Block costs only $1.95 per month. Oregon customers also can choose Blue Sky Usage, in which customers receive their equivalent energy usage from renewable resources, or Blue Sky Habitat, in which customers buy renewable energy, plus make a donation to The Nature Conservancy of Oregon to preserve native fish habitat. Large customers can buy renewable power in bulk at a discount through Blue Sky Quantity Savings.

Buying Blue Sky helps support local wind farm development. Recently, Pacific Power purchased 40,000 megawatt hours of wind power from the Nine Canyon Wind Project, the equivalent amount of power used by 3,300 average homes in a year. Located near the Stateline Wind facility on the Oregon-Washington border, Nine Canyon is one the largest public power-owned wind projects in the nation. It consists of 49 turbines, each capable of producing 1.3 megawatts of electricity.

Enrollment in Blue Sky is optional and customers can change their participation or withdraw at any time. For more information or to sign up for Blue Sky, go to 
www.pacificpower.net/bluesky or call 1-800-769-3717.

These are some of the Hood River businesses participating in Blue Sky:

10-Speed Coffee 
3 Flowers Healing
Andrew's Pizza/Skylight Theater
Barbara Williams
BCI Group, Inc.
Big Winds Hood River
Cathy's Barber Shop
Discover Bicycles 
Doug's Sports
Farmers Irrigation District
Fresh Medicine
Full Sail Brewing Company
Gary Goodman
Ground Espresso
H.R. Irrigation & Landscape
Hood River County
Hood River Expo Center
Hood River Jewelers 
Jayne Marchesi
Kayak Shed
Mother's Market Place
Mt View Baptist Church
North Shore Inc.
Sailworks
Sally Reichmuth
Sixth Street Bistro - Loft 
Timbercrest
Timberline Financial Group 
Turtle Island Foods
Waucoma Bookstore, Inc. 

Media inquiries: newsdesk@pacificorp.com