Delaware’s Democratic National Convention Delegation Goes Green to Help Ensure an Environmentally Friendly Event

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

First State is the only state in the mid-Atlantic to reach100% participation in “Green Delegate Challenge”

NEW CASTLE — The Delaware Democratic Party is proud to announce that every member of its national convention delegation is participating in the Green Delegate Challenge, an effort to neutralize their carbon footprints at the convention by purchasing carbon offsets from NativeEnergy, a Vermont-based company.

“I commend each member of our delegation for stepping up to the Democratic National Convention Committee’s challenge,” Delaware Delegation Chairman John Daniello said. “From the flights to Denver, the lights in our hotel rooms, and transportation to the Pepsi Center (the site of the convention), we’ll be burning a lot of fossil fuel. This is a great opportunity for our delegation to neutralize the effects of those carbon emissions.”

Teaming up with the Democratic National Convention Committee, NativeEnergy is offering carbon offsets made up of a blend of four community-based clean energy projects to counter the estimated one ton of CO₂ emissions per convention attendee. These ventures include wind turbines in Colorado and Minnesota, a dairy farm methane project in Pennsylvania and a landfill gas-to-energy project in Illinois. Three of these four endeavors rely exclusively on carbon funding from NativeEnergy.

The Green Energy Challenge is part of the overall initiative to make the 2008 Democratic National Convention the most environmentally-sustainable in our party’s history. In addition to delegates purchasing carbon offsets, wind and solar energy will partially power the Pepsi Center and media facilities, hybrid vehicles will transport some convention participants and cups and other utensils made of corn will be supplied.

“While the Green Delegate Challenge highlights Delaware Democrats’ commitment to renewable resources, it’s important to point out that we’re constantly striving to develop and implement environmentally-friendly initiatives,” said Daniello. “I encourage not only our delegation, but all Delawareans to continue these efforts long after the convention and 2008 election cycle are over.”

###