Green Mountain to donate carbon offsets to ensure Earth Day Dallas is as Eco Friendly as Possible
NRG CEO, David Crane to speak at event on Friday, April 22 from 12-1 p.m.
Dallas, Texas – The inaugural Earth Day Dallas Festival, which will take place on April 22 and 23, 2011 in the Dallas Downtown Arts District, will feature activities, Eco Expos, and food trucks demonstrating the use and application of environment-friendly practices and lifestyles. This year, Green Mountain Energy Company, the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, will help Earth Day Dallas make an even greater impact on the environment.
Green Mountain is donating carbon offsets to match 100 percent of the estimated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the production of the event. Green Mountain will also sponsor the “Green Mountain Green Zone” to provide festival-goers with eco-friendly games; the chance to ride the bubble bike; have photos taken with Green Mountain’s mascot, Super Earth; demonstrations of alternative energy; and Wind Face, a new wind tunnel activity that enables attendees to experience the true power of wind.
“Year after year, Earth Day has been the biggest holiday at Green Mountain Energy Company and we are thrilled to partner with Earth Day Dallas to make this event even greener,” said Paul Markovich, president, Residential Services, Green Mountain Energy Company. “Green Mountain was founded with an environmental mission to ‘change the way power is made.’ This event helps us to fulfill our mission.”
David Crane, Chief Executive Officer of NRG Energy, Green Mountain’s parent company, will speak during the opening day of the Festival, Friday, April 22 from 12-1 p.m in the Chase Tower Rotunda at 2200 Ross Avenue. Two weeks ago in Dallas, NRG began its installation of the country’s first privately funded electric vehicle charging station network, eVgo. Crane will speak about how changes in the power and transportation sectors can help stop climate change.
Earth Day Dallas will track emissions from the venue hotel, meals, flights, and other travel. The carbon offsets are certified by Climate Action Reserve from New River Regional Landfill in Raiford, Florida. Landfill gas carbon offset projects benefit the environment by destroying methane gas that would otherwise have been vented into the atmosphere.
“My vision for Earth Day Dallas in its inaugural year is to plant seeds of environmental change locally. My goal is to create a forum for North Texas business, academic, and non-profit communities to share how they are living and working more sustainably and to spark meaningful dialogue,” said Trammell S. Crow, Founder of Earth Day Dallas. “An important part of our efforts this year is reducing the amount of carbon emissions our event will generate, and offsetting what we can’t reduce through our partnership with a local, Texas-grown company – Green Mountain Energy Company.”
“We will first attempt to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions produced at Earth Day Dallas by creating a Zero Waste event environment and working with our public transportation partner to encourage Earth Day Dallas attendees to ride DART. Then, we will rely on our partnership with Green Mountain to offset the rest,” said Tajana Mesic, sustainability advisor to Earth Day Dallas and managing director of Green Grove Group.
Green Mountain will be offsetting nearly 300 metric tons of CO2 this year at Earth Day Dallas. This is equivalent to:
- Taking approximately 60 cars off the road for one year
- The amount of CO2 absorbed by almost 40,000 trees in one year
- Over 500 houses turning off their lights for a year
About Earth Day Dallas, Inc.
Earth Day Dallas kicks off on April 22, 2011, with a two-day festival in the Dallas Arts District. Events will focus on entertaining, inspiring, and educating Dallasites with various ways to think, work, and live green by showcasing emerging green technology, providing eco-friendly family activities, presenting enlightening lectures from environmental leaders, a variety of music and much more. Find out more at EarthDayDallas.org.
About Green Mountain Energy Company
Green Mountain, the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, was founded in 1997 to “change the way power is made.” The company is the longest serving green power marketer in the U.S. Green Mountain offers consumers and businesses the choice of clean electricity products from renewable sources, such as wind, as well as a variety of carbon offset products. Green Mountain’s largest customer is the “world’s most famous office building,” the Empire State Building in New York City. Green Mountain customers have collectively helped avoid over 11.3 billion pounds of CO2 emissions. As a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy, Green Mountain is back by one of the nation’s largest renewable power producers. For more information, visit www.GreenMountain.com.
