OK well not from the wind, but using wind energy. Talk about carbon neutral, the energy is renewable, the plants are renewable and the product is recyclable. I would love to see more of this going on all over. New Leaf Paper, announced on tuesday that all of its inventory product lines are manufactured with Green-e certified renewable energy. Green-e is the nation’s leading independent certification and verification program for renewable energy products. New Leaf Paper contracted for these Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) with Sterling Planet, one of the nation’s leading retail providers of solar, wind, and other renewable energy.
New Leaf Paper inventory products are now being manufactured with 100% wind energy: Reincarnation Matte, Primavera Gloss, Sakura 100 Silk, Everest, New Leaf Imagination 100, New Leaf EcoMatte and New Leaf Frontier 100. New Leaf Opaque 100 is manufactured with both wind energy credits and biogas energy generated from a local landfill in a process that converts methane, a key greenhouse gas, into an energy source.
Manufacturing paper consumes a significant amount of electricity. Traditionally, electricity is generated using fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, and is the single largest industrial source of air pollution in the U.S. Electricity generated with renewable energy produces significantly lower emissions. In purchasing renewable energy credits, New Leaf Paper and its customers help develop a cleaner energy infrastructure.
“Paper is one of the most visible purchases businesses make, and paper made with wind power and biogas energy helps reduce our customers’ carbon emissions footprint in a measurable way,” said Jeff Mendelsohn, founder and President of New Leaf Paper. “We’re bringing papers manufactured with Green-e certified renewable energy within easy reach for our customers. By manufacturing all of our inventory products with renewable energy, we make it easy for our customers to choose the paper they want without having to compromise on how it was made.”
New Leaf Paper’s energy purchase of a minimum of 5,548,644 kilowatt hours annually (enough energy to power 534 U.S. homes for one year) helps reduce greenhouse gas and carbon emissions. Electricity generated from fossil fuels spews tons of carbon dioxide into the air; green energy emissions are significantly lower. Remove 675 cars from U.S. roads for one year or plant 1,053 acres of trees-that’s about how many pounds of carbon dioxide New Leaf Paper spared with its energy purchase this year alone, according to the EPA.
NEW LEAF PAPER MEMBER OF EPA GREEN POWER LEADERSHIP CLUB
New Leaf Paper won a U.S. EPA Green Power Leadership Club Award in 2003 and has a history of meeting and exceeding Green Power Partnership goals. Its office in San Francisco has been powered entirely with Green-e® certified renewable energy since 2003. With this purchase of renewable energy credits, New Leaf Paper continues on its path of 100% commitment to sustainable business practices.
The Green Power Leadership Awards are competitive awards sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to honor individuals, businesses and organizations whose green power purchases significantly exceed minimum Green Power Partnership purchase requirements established by the EPA.
FACTS ABOUT CONVENTIONAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND POLLUTION
* About 39% of all energy consumed in the U.S. is used to generate electricity.
* Power plants fueled by fossil fuels cause 67% of the nation’s sulfur dioxide emissions, 23% of nitrogen oxide emissions, and 40% of carbon dioxide emissions (of those CO2 emissions caused by humans).
* Conventional power plants are the chief source of mercury emissions.
* Emissions from conventional power plants are linked to global warming and acid rain.