Lowe’s Makes Good on Environmental Commitment to Tennessee Valley
August 11, 2003
Lowe’s, the largest purchaser of electric power under TVA’s Green Power Switch®, is adding more of its retail stores to the renewable energy program.
Last summer, Lowe’s committed to purchasing green power at every available location in TVA’s service territory. As more local power companies sign up for the program, Lowe’s is making good on its promise.
“Lowe’s is proud to be a leader in the use of renewable energy,” says Robin Nickles, Lowe’s vice president of energy and facilities management. “Our commitment to green power reflects Lowe’s core value of operating as a responsible corporate citizen in everything we do.”
Lowe’s stores in Alcoa, Athens, Cleveland and Smyrna, Tenn.; Decatur and Huntsville, Ala.; and Dalton, Ga. are some of the most recent to join Green Power Switch. These locations are served by the City of Alcoa Electric Department, Athens Utility Department, Cleveland Utilities, Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation, Decatur Utilities, Huntsville Utilities, and North Georgia Electric Membership Corporation. Lowe’s stores are now buying over 450,000 kilowatt-hours of Green Power Switch each month. This has the annual environmental benefit of removing 600 cars from the road or planting over 900 acres of trees in the Tennessee Valley.
“TVA, power distributors of the Tennessee Valley, and the environmental community, applaud Lowe’s for its leadership in purchasing the most green power of any business in the southeastern U.S.,” says TVA Program Manager Gary Harris. “Lowe’s commitment to the environment through its purchase of Green Power Switch is second to none. Lowe’s is clearly setting a high standard for other businesses to follow.”
Green Power Switch, offered by TVA and 64 of its local power distributors, is a renewable energy program that allows consumers to purchase electricity generated from clean sources, such as wind, solar power, and methane gas. TVA provides green power from 15 solar sites throughout the TVA service area, one wind park in east Tennessee. and a methane gas facility at the Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis.
Through its distributors, TVA sells Green Power Switch to consumers in 150-kilowatt-hour blocks at a cost of $4 per block. Business and industrial customers buy blocks based on the amount of energy they use. Residential consumers can buy as many blocks as they like, with each block totaling about 12 percent of a typical household’s monthly energy use.
Currently, more than 7,000 residential customers and 348 business customers are purchasing approximately 22,520 blocks of green power from participating local power companies.
TVA is the nation’s largest public power producer and is completely self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power distributors that serve 8.3 million consumers in seven southeastern states.
Media Contact:
Kim Glassman, Nashville (615-232-6616) or TVA News Bureau, Knoxville (865-632-6000)
