Adams, NW Youth Corps win EWEB Greenpower Grants

Adams Elementary School and Northwest Youth Corps each have won a $100,000 Greenpower grant from the Eugene Water & Electric Board. The two winners were chosen by a vote of the utility’s Greenpower customers, and the announcement was made during Eugene’s Earth Day celebration at EWEB’s River Edge Plaza.

Adams Elementary, already a leader in sustainability with its robust recycling and composting programs, intends to use its grant to install a solar thermal and photovoltaic system at the school.

“Our students are really interested in energy use, particularly the applications of solar energy,” said Pamela Irvine, principal at Adams. “This (grant) will help not just the students and the teachers, but the Friendly area neighborhood as well.”

Northwest Youth Corps, which operates job-training programs as well as an Outdoor High School, plans to use the grant award to build a rooftop photovoltaic system for the school and establish an environmental education program at the 2621 Augusta St. facility.

“This Greenpower grant is a huge step forward in our efforts to transform our 50-year-old building into a modern center for conservation education,” said Art Pope, Northwest Youth Corps executive director.

Since 2007, thousands of EWEB customers have chosen to support clean renewable energy and the environment by purchasing EWEB Greenpower. They buy $1.50 or $10 “blocks” of Greenpower, or voluntarily dedicate all of their energy use to Greenpower by paying an extra penny per kilowatt-hour of consumption.

EWEB developed the Greenpower grant program in 2007 to reinvest these funds into smaller scale renewable energy or education projects that benefit the utility’s customers.

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