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Green Jobs

By Tom Wharton Park City-based Powdr Corp, which operates and owns nine mountain resorts across the United States including Utah’s Park City Mountain Resort and Gorgoza Park, recently received a 2013 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The award recognizes EPA Green Power Partners who make purchases of green power from a utility green-pricing program, a competitive green marketer or a renewable energy certificate supplier. According to a release from the company, Powdr is buying renewable energy certificates from Renewable Choice Energy. "As one of the leading mountain resort owner and operators in North America, energy is a key resource in the operation of our business," said Brent Giles, chief sustainability officer for Powdr. "The development and support of renewable energy is extremely important for us to preserve and enhance the mountain lifestyle for generations to come. We are honored to be recognized by the EPA for our efforts to offset 100 percent of our companywide electricity use with the purchase of green power." Green power is defined as electricity that is generated from renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass and low-impact hydro. The idea behind the award is to accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity throughout the country. According to the EPA, Powdr’s green power purchase of 80 million kilowatt hours would make up for the carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 12,000 passenger vehicles a year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 8,000 homes annually. "EPA is pleased to recognize Powdr with a Green Power Purchasing Award for its exceptional commitment to b buying green power and reducing carbon pollution associated with its electricity use," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. "In doing so, Powdr has demonstrated leadership in innovation, sustainability, and taking action on climate change." Tom Wharton is a Features Reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune. This article originally appeared in The Salt Lake Tribune.