Philadelphia's Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel, the nation's first eco-smart hotel, recently hosted a group of green power advocates to discuss the future of renewable energy in the Mid Atlantic. The hotel is one of an increasing number of business and community leaders choosing to purchase electricity from renewable resources to reduce green house gases and create a more secure energy future.

Green-e is the nation's first voluntary certification and verification program for renewable electricity products. The Green-e Program sets consumer protection and environmental standards for electricity products and verifies that Green-e certified products meet these standards. The hotel was an ideal setting for the Green-e Mid Atlantic Advisory Committee (MAAC) to discuss new opportunities for commercial and residential customers in the Mid Atlantic region to support renewable energy. Green-e MAAC participants include representatives from green power marketers, regulators, environmental advocates and community organizations from Mid Atlantic states.

A key development discussed was Tradable Renewable Energy Certificates (T-RECs), a new advancement in renewable energy that will offer consumers more choices and spur the growth of green power markets in the Mid Atlantic and across the U.S. T-RECs, also known as "green tags" represent the combined environmental benefits of renewable energy or the real savings in carbon dioxide and other pollutants that occur when green power replaces burning fossil fuels. The advent of green tags means that these environmental benefits can be sold into the market separately from the electricity generated from renewable sources. Consumers will be able to purchase green tags in combination with their standard electricity to help offset environmental impacts and support renewable sources.

Green tags will allow customers to support the development of renewable energy regardless of their location and utility service. "Now consumers throughout the Mid Atlantic region that have not benefited from a deregulated market or consumers in other regions with limited renewable resources such as wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal power, can support renewables through green tags," says Meredith Wingate of the Center for Resource Solutions.

Any business or organization in the Philadelphia or larger Mid Atlantic area that is interested in purchasing green tags or some other green power product can call Green-e at 215 569-8807 for further information

More About Center for Resource Solutions and Green-e

The Center for Resource Solutions runs the Green-e program, which certifies renewable energy. Inspired by the success of the recycling logo, the Green-e logo helps customers easily identify renewable-based electricity products. By setting environmental product standards and requiring companies to disclose information about their products, Green-e helps consumers make responsible choices about the power they purchase. More information on the organization is available at http://www.green-e.org

More About The Sheraton Rittenhouse Hotel

The Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel, the nations first eco-smart hotel, is located on Rittenhouse Square in Center City Philadelphia. . State-of-the-art environmental, recycled and sustainable materials are used throughout the 193 room hotel. The Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel is a joint venture of The Lubert- Adler Real Estate Opportunity Fund, LP; EcoSmart Healthy Properties, LLC, and Carlyle Construction Corporation. It is operated by GF Management, Inc., a Philadelphia-based hotel management company. More information on the organization is available at http://www.sheratonrittenhouse.com