The City of Maplewood reached its current status as an official EPA Green Power Community (GPC) in a record-breaking four months. To meet the Green Power Community Challenge and become a GPC, the EPA requires that three percent of the city’s electrical consumption be matched with green energy. The Challenge, which calls on the local government, businesses, and residents to come together on the initiative, allows for a full year to reach the goal – Maplewood surpassed it in a third of the time.
Maplewood’s Green Power Community Challenge represents a joint effort with the City’s Sustainability Commission, Ameren Missouri Pure Power and St. Louis-based Microgrid Energy, encouraging local businesses and homeowners to make a commitment to green power through either the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or the installation of solar power.
The original goal for Maplewood was to match 4,006 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, or 334 MWh per month, with green energy. The City ended up matching almost double the percentage set by the EPA. “Congratulations Maplewood, the Ameren Missouri Pure Power team is honored to have played a role in helping Maplewood achieve the EPA Green Power Community designation and we were continually impressed by the commitment of the City’s leaders as well as the businesses and residents,” said Kathleen Beebe, partnership manager at Ameren Missouri Pure Power.
Becoming an EPA Green Power Community will bring local and national attention to Maplewood, and will reduce the city’s carbon footprint by 7,389,148 pounds of CO2 each year – equal to taking 705 cars off the road annually. “We applaud Maplewood as the fourth Missouri community to become a GPC, for its environmental consciousness, and for the great example they have set to help ensure a cleaner environment,” said Rick Hunter, founder & CEO of Microgrid Energy.
Leading local governments across the nation are partnering with EPA to become Green Power Communities (GPCs). GPCs are towns, villages, cities, counties, or tribal governments in which the local government, businesses, and residents collectively use green power in amounts that meet or exceed EPA’s Green Power Community purchase requirements. To participate, residents and businesses are urged to install solar or purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to match their electricity with green power. A REC represents the environmental attributes and avoided emissions of the production of one megawatt-hour of green energy.
Read the official release, “Maplewood is Missouri’s Quickest EPA Green Power Community”