Inside the Capitol, Congress is fighting over the fate of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but across the street at Washington’s Union Station, officials have reached their own energy verdict. According to DCist:
Union Station recently started getting all of its electricity from wind power, and will do so for the next three years, its power supplier said yesterday. The historic train depot signed a contract with Herndon, Va.-based Washington Gas Energy Services that will see it purchase renewable energy credits from a network of wind farms in order to offset its annual energy consumption.
The station consumes nearly 19 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, according to a news release announcing the deal. Switching Union Station to wind power will be equivalent to reducing gasoline consumption by 1.4 million gallons or taking 2,700 vehicles off the roads for a year.
Wind energy had its best year ever in 2012, growing 28 percent, according to the just released annual report for the America Wind Energy Association. Also? “Over 6,700 new wind turbines were erected, which produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 3.5 million homes. Overall, America finished the year with 45,100 wind turbines that can power 15.2 million homes.” And, apparently, Union Station. (btw, April is also Earth Month 2013, and visitors to Union Station can check out a collection of environmental exhibits and events there.)
Insert joke about wind long being D.C.s most plentiful natural resource, here.
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