Blue Sky "Greens" Moab Folk Festival for 10th Consecutive Year

October 29, 2012

MOAB, Utah – For the 10th consecutive year, Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program is “greening” 100 percent of the Moab Folk Festival’s electricity use with renewable wind energy. It’s the festival’s 10th anniversary this year, with performances taking place Nov. 2-4.

By supporting 8,000 kilowatt-hours of wind energy, Blue Sky customers are helping the festival avoid 9,988 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. The environmental benefits are equivalent to planting 117 trees or not driving 10,121 miles – that’s more miles than driving from Moab to New York City and back twice!

“Our Blue Sky customers in Utah have helped make the Moab Folk Festival more sustainable for the past 10 years by supporting renewable wind energy on its behalf,” said Deb Dull, Rocky Mountain Power customer and community manager. “The Blue Sky program has been essential in helping Moab and Castle Valley residents and businesses achieve recognition as the nation’s first EPA Green Power Community in 2004 and maintain that status through their continued support for renewable energy.”

“We’ve really enjoyed the partnership the Moab Folk Festival has had with Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program over the past ten years,” said Melissa Schmaedick, Moab Folk Festival producer. “As a festival with the mission of ‘big music, little footprint’ we pride ourselves on having as green of an event as possible, and this partnership has allowed us to do that. In addition to the basic greening efforts of recycling, no waste green rooms, zero plastic bottle tolerance, etc., we are proud to be able to say that our energy consumption is being offset by wind power.”

The Blue Sky program provides an easy and convenient way for Rocky Mountain Power customers to support renewable energy development in the western region. Blue Sky customers also help increase the demand for renewable energy resources and provide support for community-based projects including five solar installations in Moab.

The most recent project, a 10-kilowatt, roof-mounted solar array at the Moab Animal Shelter, will help the City of Moab meet its goal of reducing the city’s use of nonrenewable fuels by 20 percent by the year 2020, part of which includes the installation of 50 kilowatts of solar on city buildings.

“The solar panels at the Moab Animal Shelter are now in place. We are very pleased to participate in the Blue Sky program, which has now helped us install photovoltaic systems at three city-owned buildings, as well as at the Grand County Public Library and at KZMU Community Radio,” said Moab Mayor Dave Sakrison. “We very much appreciate Rocky Mountain Power’s support in charting a course toward more energy efficiency and a cleaner environment.”

There are currently more than 800 Rocky Mountain Power customers in Moab who support Blue Sky renewable energy, representing about 13.7 percent of the community.

When Rocky Mountain Power customers sign up for Blue Sky, they choose how many 100-kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy they want to support. Each Blue Sky “block” costs $1.95 per month in addition to a customer’s monthly electricity bill. The company then buys renewable energy credits from wind farms in the western United States equal to the amount Blue Sky customers have signed up to support.

The Blue Sky program is Green-e Energy Certified, which means the renewable energy supported by customers meets the rigorous national environmental and consumer-protection standards established by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions. All Blue Sky funds are used within the scope of the program and Rocky Mountain Power doesn’t profit by offering Blue Sky to its customers.

There are currently more than 84,900 Blue Sky customers in six states, including more than 35,200 customers in Utah. For the past several years, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has ranked Blue Sky in the top five for the number of customers participating in a voluntary utility green power program and also for the amount of renewable energy supported by customers. 

To learn more about Blue Sky, or to sign up, visit rockymountainpower.net/bluesky. For information about the 10th Annual Moab Folk Festival, visit moabfolkfestival.com. For information about green power in Moab, visit http://www.moabcity.org/feature.cfm?id=1152031362016.

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