PORTLAND, Ore. — NW Natural made a donation of $19,600 to the Oregon State Parks Foundation (OSPF) as recognition for customers who enrolled in Smart Energy, the company’s carbon offset program. Now in its 11th year, Smart Energy has nearly 48,000 residential and business customers enrolled across Oregon and Southwest Washington.
“Our mantra for Smart Energy is use less, offset the rest,” said Brian Harney, Smart Energy program manager. “Once you’ve reduced your emissions through conservation or energy efficiency means, high-quality offsets can help make your natural gas use carbon neutral.”
NW Natural was the first stand-alone gas utility to offer its customers a voluntary carbon offset program. Throughout the life of the program, participating customers have funded emissions reductions of over 763,000 tons of CO2e – equivalent to about 148,000 cars removed from the road for a year.
This is the eighth year that NW Natural has made a contribution to OSPF on behalf of Smart Energy customers. The donation is also funded in part by NW Natural’s Corporate Philanthropy Fund from shareholders.
"We are very grateful that the Smart Energy Program has made this contribution since 2011," said Seth Miller, executive director for OSPF. "The support helps us enhance special places and experiences in Oregon's State Parks, as we focus our efforts on increasing accessibility, healthy activities and environmental education."
With environmental stewardship as one of its core values, NW Natural uses Smart Energy dollars to help fund projects that prevent the release of greenhouse gases, such as farms that capture methane from cow manure or organic waste. The captured methane, known as biogas, is an on-demand renewable energy source that can reduce emissions by replacing other fuels with higher emissions. NW Natural works with The Climate Trust to ensure that only verified high-quality offsets are purchased and retired for the Smart Energy program.
To learn more about Smart Energy from NW Natural, visit nwnatural.com/smart.
About NW Natural
NW Natural provides natural gas service to approximately two million people in more than 140 communities through 740,000 meters in Oregon and Southwest Washington with one of the most modern pipeline systems in the nation. It consistently leads the industry with high J.D. Power & Associates customer satisfaction scores.
NW Natural is part of Northwest Natural Holding Company, (NYSE: NWN) (NW Natural Holdings), which is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and owns NW Natural, NW Natural Water Company, and other business interests and activities.
NW Natural is currently constructing a 2.5 Bcf regulated gas storage expansion of its 16 Bcf facility in Oregon to support renewables. NW Natural Holdings' subsidiaries own and operate 31 Bcf of underground gas storage capacity.
NW Natural Water provides water distribution service to more than 17,000 people through 5,300 meters. To date, NW Natural Water has acquired four water distribution systems with one additional acquisition pending. Cumulatively, the company has committed approximately $67 million in the water and wastewater industry for nearly 16,700 connections in the Pacific Northwest.
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