SALT LAKE CITY – You may not taste it in the renowned French onion soup or red trout salad, and maybe not even in the freshly baked desserts, but Red Butte Café owner Scott Hale is stirring a large amount of Blue Sky wind power into the region’s energy mix.

Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program gives both residential and business customers a way to increase the demand for clean, renewable wind energy. It is sold in 100 kilowatt-hour increments, called blocks, for $1.95 per block per month in addition to a customer’s regular bill.

Located at 1414 Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City’s Foothill Village Mall, Red Butte Café is buying 180 blocks (or 18,000 kilowatt-hours) of Blue Sky renewable energy every month from Rocky Mountain Power. This qualifies the restaurant as a Visionary-level partner in the program. The café’s purchase offsets 216 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. That has the environmental benefit of planting 85 acres of trees or not driving almost 463,000 miles.

“I also bought Blue Sky for my house,” said Hale, who also owns the Desert Edge Pub and the Martine. “It’s something simple and serious that we can all do for the environment. I think wind power is a great thing in general. It's decentralized and farmers can put up turbines and still make a living from the land.”
 
“Rocky Mountain Power already buys renewable energy for its customers, but the Red Butte Café is helping bring even more wind power into the system and is encouraging wind farm development through Blue Sky,” said Rod Fisher, Rocky Mountain Power’s community relations director.

Wind is an attractive form of energy generation because it helps reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Just one block of Blue Sky has the same environmental benefit of either planting about a half acre of trees or not driving 2,500 miles. Enrollment is optional, and customers can increase their participation or withdraw at any time. For more information or to sign up for Blue Sky, call 800-842-8458 or e-mail bluesky@pacificorp.com. Customers can sign up online at www.rockymtnpower.net/bluesky.

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