SALT LAKE CITY — Since Foothill Village Shopping Center prides itself on its healthy mix of local small businesses, it also makes sense to blend in some renewable power.

"When we were approached about Blue Sky, it just seemed like the right thing to do," said Terese Walton, mall manager for Johansen Thackeray, which operates Foothill Village. "I buy Blue Sky from Rocky Mountain Power for my own home, so it was easy to sell the concept to the shopping center owners and tenants."

As Utah’s first mall, Foothill Village, located at 1400 S. Foothill Blvd. in Salt Lake City, is making a positive environmental impact by purchasing 163 blocks of Blue Sky from Rocky Mountain Power each month. During the course of a year, Foothill Village’s purchase offsets 196 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equal to planting 77 acres of trees or not driving 419,000 miles.

Bill Sartain, a Foothill Village tenant and owner of The Tutoring Toy educational toy store, was a huge proponent of getting stores involved in the program as an opportunity to contribute to a cleaner environment. "With Blue Sky, we can walk away from this planet with a smaller carbon footprint, and it’s an opportunity to show some responsibility to our community and future community," he said.

Built in 1957, Foothill Village was the first large mall ever constructed in the state. It is buying renewable energy under the utility’s Blue Sky Quantity Savings option, which allows large-business customers to buy renewable energy from Rocky Mountain Power for less, providing they purchase at least 101 blocks of Blue Sky per month for a year.

The mall’s clean energy comes from western wind farms such as the Pleasant Valley Wind Project, located in Evanston, Wyo. While Rocky Mountain Power already buys renewable power for its customers, Blue Sky is a way to bring even more into the system. Enrollment is optional and customers can increase their participation or withdraw at any time.

"Buying Blue Sky is an easy way for both households and businesses to make a personal statement in support of clean and sustainable power," said Sarah Wright, executive director of Utah Clean Energy, a public interest group advocating for renewable energy. "The more we can promote the use and development of wind power in the region, the better it will be for the environment and our energy future."

Blue Sky is one of the most popular green-power programs in the country, ranking second in the nation for the number of customers enrolled. In Utah, about 18,750 residential and business customers buy renewable energy through the program. More than 48,100 customers buy Blue Sky in the western United States. Blue Sky is sold in 100 kilowatt-hour increments for $1.95 each.

For more information or to sign up for Blue Sky, call 800-842-8458 or e-mail bluesky@pacificorp.com. Customers can sign up online at   www.rockymtnpower.net/bluesky .

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