Green Mountain Energy Company Announces Lord & Taylor is Purchasing Wind Power for Its Fifth Avenue & Eastchester, NY Stores

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Green Mountain Energy Company, the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, announced today that Lord & Taylor will purchase renewable energy for its flagship Manhattan and Eastchester, New York stores. The retailer has committed to purchasing wind energy from Green Mountain for 100 percent of the two stores’ electricity usage.

“Green Mountain applauds Lord & Taylor for demonstrating leadership in sustainable business practices through this purchase of green power”

Lord & Taylor has signed a two-year contract with Green Mountain beginning in November to purchase more than 13 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of 100 percent wind power annually for the combined two stores. The flagship Manhattan store is located at 424 Fifth Ave., and the Eastchester store is at 750 White Plains Rd., Scarsdale, NY. Lord & Taylor’s clean energy purchase for the stores will avoid a total of more than 20 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO₂) annually. The savings represents the equivalent of not taking 3.6 million cab rides.

“Green Mountain applauds Lord & Taylor for demonstrating leadership in sustainable business practices through this purchase of green power,” said Scott Hart, President of Commercial Services, Green Mountain Energy Company. “This renewable energy purchase further helps Green Mountain accomplish its mission to change the way power is made and helps Lord & Taylor send a message to its customers that it cares about the environment.”

Lord & Taylor’s green power purchase exceeds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Green Power Partnership requirements. Based on EPA’s current 2011 Top List rankings, Lord & Taylor would rank No. 17 on EPA’s Top 20 Retail list, representing the largest purchasers among retail partners within the Green Power Partnership. Lord & Taylor recently joined EPA’s Green Power Partnership, which is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use.

Green Mountain was awarded the electricity contract after a bid process with multiple Electric Service Companies, facilitated by Good Energy, Lord & Taylor’s energy consulting firm. Green Mountain was selected as a result of its winning, competitive electricity rate, favorable contract terms and leadership in the renewable energy industry. Green Mountain is the nation’s longest-serving green power marketer in the U.S.

The renewable energy to supply the two Lord & Taylor stores will be purchased in the form of wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) by Green Mountain. Purchasing these RECs is a widely accepted way to address the greenhouse gas emissions of electricity consumption. Purchasing RECs in the same quantity as the Lord & Taylor’s estimated electricity consumption ensures that the amount of energy used by each of the stores is added to the U.S. power grid from renewable sources and supports the further development of these projects.

Green Mountain also offers New York City residents in the Con Edison service territory a choice of competitively priced clean energy products. The company began serving residential and commercial customers in New York in November 2009.

About Green Mountain Energy Company

Green Mountain, the nation’s leading competitive retail provider of cleaner energy and carbon offset solutions, was founded in 1997 to “change the way power is made.” The company is the longest serving green power marketer in the U.S. Green Mountain offers consumers and businesses the choice of cleaner electricity products from renewable sources, such as wind, as well as a variety of carbon offset products. Green Mountain’s largest customer is the “world’s most famous office building,” the Empire State Building in New York City. Green Mountain customers have collectively helped avoid over 11.3 billion pounds of CO₂ emissions. As a wholly owned subsidiary of NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG), Green Mountain is backed by one of the nation’s largest renewable power producers. For more information, visit GreenMountain.com.

About EPA Green Power Partnership

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,300 Partner organizations voluntarily purchasing billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500^® companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit www.epa.gov/greenpower.