Philly Utility to Run on Wind, Biodiesel Power
A Philadelphia-based utility has announced plans to use wind and biodiesel power, along with more hybrid vehicles to help power its headquarters.
This story from the Philadelphia Business Journal says Peco Energy Co. wants to buy enough wind-generated electricity to cover 15 percent of its power needs at its Center City Philadelphia headquarters through the end of 2011:
The electric-and-gas utility said it will buy 4,050 megawatt hours of wind-generated power per year over a three-year period that began last month. The amount represents a 50 percent annual increase from Peco’s last wind energy purchase for the building, which was from 2005 through November 2008.
The deal is part of an environmental initiative on which Peco is spending more than $15 million. Under the initiative, Peco has transformed the roof of its headquarters into a green roof, is replacing the message board atop its headquarters with one that uses light-emitting diodes and boosting the number of hybrid and biodiesel vehicles in its fleet.
Peco is owned by Chicago-based Exelon Corp., which is trying to offset or reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15 million tons nationwide by the year 2020.