HP today announced relationships with two renewable energy providers, SunPower Corp. in the United States and Airtricity in Ireland, as part of the company’s strategy to reduce its global carbon footprint.
Under a power purchase agreement with SunPower, HP will install its first-ever, large-scale solar power installation at its San Diego facility.
The contract with Airtricity will ensure that nearly 90 percent of HP’s energy use in Ireland is renewable, exceeding the company’s 2007 target for carbon emission reductions.
“Switching to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power makes both environmental and business sense,” said Pat Tiernan, vice president, Social and Environmental Responsibility, HP. “These advances are just part of HP’s comprehensive energy-efficiency program, which we believe is the most aggressive in the technology industry.”
Wind technology in Ireland
HP’s contract with Airtricity, a renewable energy company developing and operating wind farms across Europe and North America, is for the supply of renewable wind energy to a number of its facilities in Ireland for fiscal year 2008. The electricity supplied by Airtricity is generated by both onshore and offshore wind farms.
Through the contract, HP will purchase more than 80 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy. It is estimated that the agreement will save HP approximately $40,000 over the year-long contract. There are also significant environmental benefits – HP will save the release of more than 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to taking 9,600 cars off the road for one year.
Solar advances in the United States
HP’s agreement with SunPower covers installation of a 1-megawatt solar electric power system and required maintenance of the system for the next 15 years. HP will buy back solar power at a reduced, locked-in rate under the SunPower Access™ program. The HP solar electric system will be financed and owned by a third-party financier, which allows HP to take advantage of the environmental and financial benefits of solar with no upfront capital costs.
Initial estimates indicate that the project will save HP approximately $750,000 in energy costs during the next 15 years. HP also will earn renewable energy credits as the installation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1 million pounds per year, or nearly 16 million pounds during the next 15 years.
With this project, HP is taking advantage of incentives provided under the California Public Utilities Commission’s California Solar Initiative, which aims to increase solar energy use statewide.
HP will extend the benefits of solar power beyond its facilities to employees by creating a solar employee purchase program in the United States. Employees will receive a rebate of up to $2,000 from SunPower when using the SunPower Premier Dealer network for the installation of a solar power system for their homes. In addition, HP will match the SunPower rebate of up to $2,000 per installation.
At HP’s San Diego site, the SunPower installation will include 5,000 solar panels atop five of the seven buildings. The panels, which are made up of photovoltaic cells, will convert the sun’s light energy into approximately 1,676,000 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy per year – enough to provide more than 10 percent of HP’s energy use at the San Diego facility.
HP and the Environment
For decades HP has worked to manage its environmental impact by adopting environmentally responsible practices in its product development, operations and supply chain. The company strives to be a global leader in reducing its carbon footprint, limiting waste and recycling responsibly.
HP has implemented a series of environmental advancements in the areas of product development, internal operations and supply chain management aimed at instituting energy-efficient operating practices worldwide, including: In 2007, HP began encouraging all of its logistic and carrier partners to join SmartWay, a voluntary partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the freight industry aimed at reducing fuel consumption, greenhouse gases and other air emissions through better transportation technology. HP’s goals include committing to use more SmartWay carriers, creating a two-tiered authorized vendor list and using HP’s position to educate more carrier partners about SmartWay. In 2006, HP purchased 11 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy for use in its operations. HP also joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Purchase program – a challenge to Fortune 500 companies to double their renewable energy purchases by the end of 2007. HP plans to increase renewable energy purchases by more than 350 percent by procuring 50 million kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity during 2007. Also in 2006, HP embarked on a joint initiative with the World Wildlife Fund-US to establish an absolute reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions from HP’s operating facilities worldwide, explore efficiency goals for products, educate and inspire others to adopt best practices for climate change initiatives and use HP technology in conservation efforts around the world by 2010.
More information about the company’s environmental programs is available at www.hp.com/environment.
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