Sources: California Portland Cement Co.; Staff reports

The CalPortland Mojave Plant in south central California ranks fifth among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Top 20 On-site Green Power Users. Wind turbines the company recently erected around the site perimeter generate 50 million kilowatt-hours of power annually, providing the cement mill 11 percent of its electricity needs. EPA figures show that the wind-derived 50 million kWh is equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power 5,000 average homes annually and avoids carbon dioxide emissions comparable to what 7,000 passenger vehicles would generate in a year.

The Top 20 On-site Green Power Users List is one of nine rankings in the EPA Green Power Partnership (GPP) program. CalPortland Mojave is the largest on-site wind power project of any GPP organization. CalPortland CEO James Repman credits his Energy Team for seeking ways to reduce power consumption throughout the company’s concrete, aggregate and cement operations in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. He plans to continue “working with industry partners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, advocate for clean energy, and develop and implement clean energy technology.”

In addition to the GPP, CalPortland was an early EPA Climate Leaders (http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders/partners/index.html) subscriber. Established in 2002 under the Bush Administration, the program offers U.S. industries committed to greenhouse gas emissions reduction a plausible alternative to the ruinous Kyoto Protocol mandates. The Mojave wind power generation contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal--9 percent per production index from 2003–2012--CalPortland pledged within Climate Leaders.