PARK CITY, Utah — Cole Sport makes its living helping people enjoy the area’s natural beauty, and owners Gary and Jana Cole want to keep it pristine by supporting renewable power. The sporting goods retailer and rental outlet buys 287 blocks of Blue Sky from Rocky Mountain Power every month.

Cole Sport became aware of the Blue Sky program because of challenges by Park City and Moab. The Coles elected to offset 100 percent of their power usage with renewables. Last year, the City Council of Park City voted unanimously to support renewable power by launching the Blue Sky Community Challenge.

“It certainly helped to have the mayor, Dana Williams, actively involved,” said Gary Cole. “We have been environmentally conscious since we opened our business in 1982, recycling and even looking into bio diesel. Blue Sky renewable power is another way we can be involved personally and as a business.”

Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky gives customers a way to grow the demand for wind energy and take advantage of its environmental benefits. It is sold in 100-kilowatt-hour block increments for $1.95 each, in addition to a customer’s regular monthly electric bill.

Blue Sky’s energy is derived from wind power. Wind is an attractive form of energy generation because it helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Wind produces no air pollutants, wastewater, smog or acid rain. Blue Sky helps spur renewable power development and brings additional amounts of clean, renewable energy into the power system.

The environmental impact of Cole Sport’s Blue Sky purchase is significant: it offsets the release of more than 344 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, which has the same benefit as planting more than 11 acres of trees each month. Just one block of Blue Sky has the same environmental benefit of either not driving 2,500 miles or planting a half acre of trees.

The Park City Blue Sky Community Challenge’s original goal was to boost Park City’s Blue Sky customer participation to five percent. Today the community is working to increase participation to 15 percent.  Currently, 1,485 residential customers and 107 area businesses are enrolled – or 11 percent of the community – compared to 253 when the challenge began in November 2003. The number of signups is the result of grassroots initiatives, the Leadership Group X, Recycle Utah, Utah Clean Energy and representatives from Rocky Mountain Power.   

Blue Sky is one of the nation’s most popular green programs. The U.S. Department of Energy ranked Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program second in the nation for customers enrolled in a renewable power program; and third in the amount of renewable power sold.

Last November, Moab surpassed its challenge goal. The U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) recognized Utah’s Greater Moab Area as the nation's first Green Power Community — the first in the nation to meet and exceed the EPA Green Power Partnership’s minimum benchmark for green power usage with voluntary purchases.

For more information or to sign up for Blue Sky, call 1-800-842-8458 or e-mail bluesky@pacificorp.com . Customers can sign up on line at  www.rockymtnpower.net/bluesky .

More about Rocky Mountain Power and Blue Sky

Rocky Mountain Power is the state’s largest electric utility, serving about 722,525 Utah customers with reliable, safe, low-cost electricity. In Utah, more than 15,100 residential and business customers participate. Nearly 40,000 customers buy Blue Sky in the Western U.S.

Media inquiries: newsdesk@pacificorp.com