PORTLAND, Ore. — Ashforth Pacific, Inc., an owner and manager of commercial real estate, recently increased its purchase of Blue Sky wind power by more than 200 percent, making it the largest supporter of Pacific Power’s renewable energy program.

Blue Sky is Pacific Power’s voluntary customer program to provide new, clean, renewable wind power generation. For an additional $2.95 per month, residential, business and industrial customers can purchase wind power in 100-kilowatt-hour (kwh) increments. The average residential customer in Oregon uses about 1,000 kwh of energy per month.

Ashforth Pacific first purchased 35,000 kwh per month of Blue Sky for its Lloyd Center Tower in northeast Portland. The company added another 15,000 kwh for a total of 50,000 kwh, making it the largest single site purchaser of Blue Sky. In addition, Ashforth Pacific bought 27,500 kwh for its Liberty Centre building, 20,000 kwh for the Lloyd 700 Building, and 10,000 kwh for its Oregon Square properties, all located in Northeast Portland. The sum purchase of Ashforth Pacific’s Blue Sky is 107,500 kwh per month.

"Our decision to invest in Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program reflects our strong belief that businesses can play a leading role in resolving pressing environmental problems," said Hank Ashforth, CEO of Ashforth Pacific.

Ashforth Pacific launched an environmental initiative in 1999, and it has since been working to realign corporate operations and real estate management practices to be more ecologically sound. The company’s environmental policy states "We will be stewards of our environment by taking responsible actions within our business and our community." Ashforth Pacific plans to continue reinvesting any savings gained from additional energy and resource conservation into other environmentally responsible projects.

"By supporting Blue Sky, environmentally responsible companies like Ashforth Pacific are bringing greater amounts of wind power on line faster," said Judi Johansen, CEO of PacifiCorp, which serves customers in Oregon as Pacific Power. "We commend them for this important environmental commitment."

Renewable energy is generated from clean resources such as wind, solar and geothermal. Renewable energy has little to no emissions and the supply is unlimited. Wind power is the cleanest form of renewable energy because it produces no air pollutants, wastewater, smog or acid rain. It also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Buying one 100-kwh block of Blue Sky each month for a year has the same environmental impact as planting a third of an acre of trees or not driving a car for 1,800 miles, according to the Northwest Power Planning Council and the Environmental Protection Association.

Independent of Blue Sky, Pacific Power is doing its part to increase the amount of renewable power generation. The utility generates renewable energy at its Wyoming Wind Development (42 mw) and at its Blundell geothermal plant in Utah (23 mw). Last week, the company began adding wind power from the new Rock River I wind farm in Wyoming (50 mw). A company affiliate, PacifiCorp Power Marketing, Inc., will sell power from the new 262-mw Stateline wind farm on the border of Washington and Oregon.

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PacifiCorp launched Blue Sky in 2000 to give customers a choice in how their energy is produced and to allow them a part in creating demand for renewable energy resources. The program provides Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming customers the opportunity to buy renewable energy in 100-kilowatt-hour increments for an additional $2.95 per month on their electricity bills. A total of 6,987 customers have purchased 14,081,000 kwh of Blue Sky as of Oct. 31, 2001. In 2001, Blue Sky stepped up from tenth to seventh on the U.S. Department of Energy’s top 10 list of utility green programs in customer participation.