Carbon Cycle 2.0 Distinguished Speaker: Mary Nichols

Two Connecticut-based Companies Recognized by EPA as Top Green Power Partners

Press release:

News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
August 14, 2012

Contact: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

Two Connecticut-based Companies Recognized by EPA as Top Green Power Partners

(Boston, Mass. – Aug. 14, 2012) – Two corporations based in Connecticut – XEROX Corp. based in Norwalk, and Pitney Bowes Inc., based in Stamford – have been recognized by EPA as being among the nation’s top purchasers of Green Power in the technology and telecom sector. Green power is electricity generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and low-impact hydro and produces no net increase of greenhouse gas emissions.

“These two companies, along with EPA’s other Green Power Purchasers, are leaning forward and driving the development of new renewable energy sources by demonstrating that green power makes good environmental and business sense,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office.

XEROX Corp. is an international leader in document production, IT outsourcing and production printing.  The company currently uses over 35 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power 100 percent produced by wind, for a total of 7.76 percent of their total US electric load.  XEROX’s green power purchase is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of more than 5,000 passenger vehicles per year, or the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of nearly 3,000 average American homes annually.

“Through our partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, we support the development of clean electricity sources because it’s a sound business decision and essential to reduce future climate risks,” said Diane O’Connor, Xerox global vice president of Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability.  “By purchasing green power, we are taking advantage of opportunities to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and work towards our goal of Carbon Neutrality.”

Pitney Bowes Inc. is a leading provider of customer communication technologies. A $5.3 billion company with over 28,000 employees, they serve both large corporations and small-to-medium-sized businesses in more than 100 countries. Pitney Bowes currently uses over 15 million kWh of green power, which is 100 percent produced by wind, for a total of 12.1 percent of their total US electric load.  Pitney Bowes’ green power purchase is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of more than 2,000 passenger vehicles per year, or the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of nearly 1,000 average American homes annually.

“Pitney Bowes is a founding member of the EPA Green Power Partnership Program, and we are pleased to be recognized by the EPA Partnership and look forward to sharing this honor with other like minded corporations. We began purchasing renewable energy credits in 2003 as part of our energy conservation and sustainability portfolio and over the years we have invested in over 71M kWh of renewable energy.  In addition, our Corporate Energy Task Force has led us in the implementation of energy conservation measures across our lines of business that have provided us with additional savings of over $2.3M in energy costs and a reduction of over 16M kWh of energy consumption.  The combined efforts have resulted in the avoidance of over 33,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions,” said John Thaler, Director of EHS Process Excellence at Pitney Bowes Inc.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,300 partner organizations, which are voluntarily using more than 21 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which helps to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. This is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of over 1.8 million average American homes for a year.

More information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership (http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/)

#  #  #

Nextiva Renews Participation in CarbonFree Program

Nextiva Maintains its Environmental Leadership Position by Renewing Participation in Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® Program

March 13, 2012 – Scottsdale, AZ

Nextiva (www.nextiva.com), the leading unified communications and business VoIP service provider, announced today that it is offsetting its carbon emissions with Carbonfund.org Foundation, a leading nonprofit carbon reduction and climate solutions organization. By renewing its participation for the fourth consecutive year in Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® Partner program, Nextiva demonstrates its commitment to the fight against global warming.

Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® Partner program supports third-party validated renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects in the U.S. and abroad to reduce CO2 emissions and accelerate the transition to a clean energy future. During the last year, Nextiva has enhanced its internal recycling program by providing employees with beverage cups to minimize the use of paper products, adding many plants around the office and reducing the number of printers onsite. Nextiva continues to utilize eco-effective technology in its data centers and support their clients’ eco-friendly goals at the same time by offering an online fax service called vFAX.

“Our commitment to being the best partner for our customers guides all of our business decisions, and we want them to know that in addition to providing cloud-based services, we also make environmentally-conscious decisions about our physical office locations,” states Yaniv Masjedi, VP of Nextiva. “By developing a carbon neutral office environment, we demonstrate to our customers and employees that we are doing our part to offset CO2 emissions.”

“We are thrilled to renew our partnership with Nextiva and applaud their ongoing efforts to protect our planet,” said Eric Carlson, president of Carbonfund.org. “Fortunately, Nextiva is as committed to protecting the environment as it is to delivering reliable VoIP services for businesses. We are excited about their ongoing participation in the CarbonFree® Partner Program.”

ABOUT NEXTIVA
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nextiva (www.nextiva.com) is member of the privately held Unitedwebfamily of companies. Nextiva is one of the country’s leading providers of cloud-based, VoIPunified communication services designed for growing small and mid-size businesses. Nextiva has won more than 30 Independent Technology & Telephony Awards, including being named “Best Business VoIP Provider” by Voice Reports for three years running. Nextiva delivers “Fortune 500″ phone service at start-up prices and serves more than 60,000SMB companies across the United States. For more information call 800-983-4289 or visit nextiva.com.