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Friends of Trees, St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County and the Eugene Science Center each won 2018 Greenpower Grants worth up to $50,000 from EWEB's Greenpower Program.
The three community nonprofit organizations proposed high-impact projects that will increase the use of renewable energy sources or reduce/offset the community's carbon footprint. The winners were chosen by a vote of EWEB Greenpower customers. Grant program funding allowed for three winners this year.
Friends of Trees will engage volunteers in community tree planting events to plant and care for 600 trees and native shrubs along major roadways in areas of west Eugene. The West Eugene Living Roadways Project will contribute to cooling and carbon sequestration.
"By using native plants from our region, the trees will be able to live long and survive on their own with limited inputs, providing ecological services, benefits to pollinators, as well as beauty," said Erik Burke, Eugene director for Friends of Trees. "The benefits these trees provide will help all members of our community by cooling and cleaning Eugene's air and water and removing carbon from the air."
St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County will install a 15.3-kilowatt photovoltaic array on the human-service organization's Youth House for Boys, which will provide housing, food, clothing, safety and security for homeless, unaccompanied high school students. The photovoltaic system will yield St. Vincent de Paul an estimated $100,000 in energy savings over 35 years and offset 8.1 tons of carbon dioxide.
"We are deeply appreciative of EWEB's funding of this solar project, which will provide both practical and educational benefits for the homeless teens who will be living in this facility," said Terry McDonald, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul. "And the energy savings will result in more funding being available for social services for our clients."
Eugene Science Center's project will not only produce solar energy, but also educate its many visitors about the science and technology that makes renewable energy possible. The Greenpower Grant will allow the science center to install a 32.5-kilowatt photovoltaic array coupled with lithium ion batteries, as well as create outreach education kits and solar energy exhibits demonstrating solar technology and the amount of solar energy produced onsite.
"We're very excited to showcase solar technology at the science center, and educate our community about the technology and benefits of renewable energy," said Tim Scott, executive director of the Eugene Science Center. "Energy savings from this array will also allow us to allocate more funds toward our educational programs, which helps us have a greater impact on our community."
Other finalists for 2018 Greenpower Grants include the Pearl Buck Center and Eugene Waldorf School. Read the five project summaries here. The Greenpower Grant program voting period opened on April 30 for our approximately 2,000 Greenpower customers. Active Greenpower customers were eligible to vote for their top two proposals.
Funds for the grants come from voluntary Greenpower customer donations designated for reinvestment in local renewable projects and programs. Since 2007, thousands of customers have chosen to support clean, renewable energy by purchasing EWEB Greenpower. They buy $1.50 or $10 "blocks" of Greenpower, or voluntarily dedicate 100 percent of their energy use to Greenpower by paying an extra penny per kilowatt-hour of consumption.
We developed the Greenpower Grant Program to help reinvest some of these funds into renewable energy projects, education or those that help offset the community's carbon footprint. The annual grants are open to tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, academic institutions or government and other public agencies. Since 2009, the program has awarded more than $1 million to 19 local nonprofit projects.
500 East Fourth Ave.
Eugene, OR 97401
800-841-5871
541-685-7000
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Phone hours: 9 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Lobby hours: 9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
