Green Mountain Energy teams up on state's first wind-powered community
Local clean energy provider Green Mountain Energy Co. has teamed up with the Freedom Seal of Approval Program to create the first wind-powered community in Texas.
The Shadow Creek Ranch master-planned community is in Pearland, about 15 minutes from downtown Houston, and features homes that use less energy.
"What we've done here is create an opportunity for the community to do some good now and for future generations," says David Goswick, managing director of Freedom Seal, the country's first home certification program for energy-efficient, technologically advanced standards.
"All the homes in the master-planned community consume 30 percent less energy than traditionally built homes, and now we are able to offer community residents wind energy that is totally reliable at an affordable rate."
Austin-based Green Mountain, one of the country's largest providers of clean energy, is offering Shadow Creek residents an electricity program with average monthly electricity usage of 1,000 kilowatt-hours, which the company says can help avoid generating about 18,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Upon completion, Shadow Creek Ranch will have more than 10,000 homes.
"We feel this partnership presents a very unique opportunity for us and for the residents of Shadow Creek Ranch," says Paul Thomas, president and CEO of Green Mountain. "This community becomes a model for what can be done in Houston and across America."
Green Mountain offers electricity generated from sources such as wind, solar, water, geothermal, biomass and natural gas. It serves about 600,000 residential, business, institutional and governmental customers nationwide.
