Texas nonprofits offered chance to switch to solar power

August 2, 2011

Energy retailer Green Mountain Energy Company is seeking Texas non-profit organizations interested in hosting and owning a solar energy system in 2012.

The Texas chapter of the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club (formerly known as the Big Texas Sun Club) is donating funds to qualifying Texas non-profits to purchase and install systems on their property which use the power of the sun to generate pollution-free electricity or heat water.

Applications must be submitted online at http://www.gmsunclub.com by Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011.

“Green Mountain Energy Company’s mission is to change the way power is made,” said Paul Markovich, President of Residential Services for Green Mountain Energy Company.

“Each solar energy system we donate through the Texas chapter of the Sun Club helps us achieve that mission, give back to the local community and enables our customers to make an even greater difference by further supporting the development of solar power in Texas.”

Sun Club

The Sun Club is a unique program in which Green Mountain’s customers can choose to support solar energy by contributing an additional $5 on their monthly Green Mountain Energy electricity bill.

The mission of the Sun Club is to fund, build and promote solar power while assisting non-profit organizations with a socially-responsible focus to reduce their environmental footprints. Green Mountain created the Sun Club as a voluntary program to give its customers yet one more way to make a difference for the environment.

Since the inception of the program in 2002, Green Mountain and its customers have made nearly 30 donations, installing almost 350 kilowatts (kW) of new solar power on the roofs and campuses of worthy non-profits.

These donations have helped educate the surrounding communities on the importance of this pollution-free resource, and have the combined environmental impact of avoiding 3.3 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to date!

This is equivalent to taking over 140,000 cars off the road for a week or nearly 128,000 households turning off all of their lights for a week.

Solar Installations

Some of the solar facilities made possible by Sun Club members include:

Houston: Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council, Houston Zoo, Satori Elementary School (Galveston), Chinquapin School (Highlands), Habitat for Humanity Homes, Workshop Houston
Dallas/Fort Worth: Dallas Children’s Theater, The da Vinci School (Dallas), Eastfield College (Mesquite), Museum of Nature & Science (Dallas), Habitat for Humanity Homes in Dallas, Botanical Research Institute of Texas (Fort Worth), Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame (Fort Worth), Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
South Texas: Texas State Technical College (Harlingen), McAllen Chamber of Commerce,
Texas State Aquarium (Corpus Christi)
Central Texas: Ronald McDonald House of Austin, Waco Chamber of Commerce
West Texas: Ballroom Marfa

An additional six solar arrays will be installed through the Sun Club during 2011 including: Art Museum of South Texas (Corpus Christi), University of Houston, Glady’s Porter Zoo (Brownsville), Cameron Park Zoo (Waco), Fort Worth Zoo, and the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity headquarters.