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Under the leadership of Governor Corzine, New Jersey
has become one of the first states in the nation to
adopt an aggressive stance on curbing carbon emissions
while promoting the benefits of renewable energy
technologies. By working together with our communities
and our customers, we are working to help New Jersey
take the lead in this imperative effort.
We
were proud to support the state’s goal when we became
the first business to join with Governor Corzine and
pledge to reduce our own carbon emissions 20 percent
by 2020. Over the next five years we will purchase 100
percent of our electricity needs through the Board of
Public Utilities’ CleanPower Choice renewable
energy program, convert our fleet to hybrid, dual-fuel
and high-efficiency vehicles, improve the efficiency
of our facilities and increase our participation in
the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s
WasteWise and Gas Star programs to help meet our
commitment.
As
importantly, we are also working to help our customers
do the same. Together, with our state’s regulators, we
launched our Conservation Incentive Program (CIP) to
protect the company from variations in usage and
provide us the opportunity to do more to help
customers save energy and money. In the first year of
this program, we helped our customers save 34.6
million therms of natural gas, and more than $37.6
million. By using less energy, our customers have
reduced their carbon dioxide emissions by more than
225,000 tons – a reduction equivalent to taking 39,399
cars off New Jersey’s roads.
Our
“Planting for the Future” campaign also offers
customers a simple and direct way to offset some of
the carbon they emit through their daily actions.
Through our partnership with The Conservation Fund,
customers can purchase trees at a cost of $5 each to
reduce their carbon footprint. And, we will make their
commitment go even further by matching their
contributions up to $250,000 over the next five years.
Together, we have the potential to plant 100,000 trees
with the opportunity to offset 130,000 tons of carbon
emissions. With our customers, we have already
purchased over 13,800 trees since the launch of this
campaign.
Additionally, in support of
New Jersey’s
Clean Energy Program, we recently encouraged our
employees and customers to take the Energy Star Change
a Light Pledge. This asks homeowners to change at
least five incandescent light bulbs to
energy-efficient bulbs, which use 75 percent less
energy. To date, we have received 1,060 pledges to
change over 7,450 light bulbs. Coupled with efforts
from other businesses and municipalities around the
state, these pledges have made New Jersey one of the
top pledge drivers in the nation with a commitment
level that will prevent the release more than 15,700
tons of carbon emissions.
These are just a few of the many examples of the
successful partnerships we have formed this year in an
effort to better serve our customers, communities and
state. Through Conserve to Preserve®, the umbrella for
our commitment to environmental stewardship, we will
continue to pursue such opportunities and promote the
benefits of energy efficiency and conservation.
Joined by our common interests and shared goals, and
with each of us doing our part, we can, and are,
making a meaningful difference that is producing
positive results today, tomorrow and for future
generations.
For
more information and additional resources on how your
residents, businesses and municipalities can start
saving energy, please visit our Web site,
njliving.com. |
