SALT LAKE CITY – As a self-described radical, old-time hippie environmentalist, Avenues Bakery owner Paul Maurer believes in taking care of the resources we have.

“Just walk outside and look around,” Maurer said. “There’s nasty air and everyone’s breathing it, and we all have to do something about it. If we put it on to someone else, nothing will get done.”

Avenues Bakery, located at 481 E. South Temple, already is doing its part to support clean energy as a champion-level Blue Sky partner. By buying 21 blocks of Blue Sky each month, it is reducing more than two tons of carbon dioxide emissions each month, which has the environmental benefit of not driving a car 4,500 miles or planting 410 trees.

Blue Sky energy comes 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 supports additional amounts of clean, renewable energy.

Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program gives all 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. Buying just one block of Blue Sky a month for a year has the same environmental benefit of either not driving 2,500 miles or planting a half acre of trees. Large customers can buy renewable power in bulk at a discount through Blue Sky QS (Quantity Savings).

While Rocky Mountain Power already buys renewable energy for its customers, Blue Sky brings even more wind power into the system and encourages wind farm development. Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky customers added two new wind farms to the voluntary program’s renewable portfolio, buying energy from the Pleasant Valley Wind Energy facility near Evanston, Wyo., and from Nine Canyon Wind Project near Kennewick, Wash.

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 729,613 Utah customers with reliable, safe, low-cost electricity. In Utah, more than 15,900 residential and business customers participate in Blue Sky, and nearly 41,400 customers buy Blue Sky in the Western U.S.