BENNINGTON – One of Vermont’s largest handcrafted jewelry retailers is also one of southern Vermont’s largest Cow Power supporters.

Hawkins House Craftmarket, a Bennington mainstay since 1977, has built its business on quality, a trait owners Elizabeth Ganger and her husband Jonah Spivak say relates to Cow Power.

“Cow Power is improving the quality of our environment, the quality of life for farms that participate, and the quality of our energy supply,” Spivak said. “For a small business, controlling costs is always a top priority, but we see our enrollment in CVPS Cow Power™ as an investment in Vermont.”

Hawkins House Craftmarket, which consumed more than 64,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity last year, is enrolled to receive 25 percent of its energy through CVPS Cow Power™. Cow Power produced to serve a quarter of the store’s load is expected to have an environmental impact equivalent to removing approximately 40 metric tons of CO2 from the air annually. That’s akin to 33 acres of pine forest storing carbon for a year.

“I’m proud of our participation, and proud of what it means to the environment,” Ganger said. “By enrolling in Cow Power, we are making a specific, direct contribution to improving air quality, reducing greenhouse emissions, and supporting Vermont’s farm economy.”

CVPS Cow Power™ is the nation’s only manure-based renewable energy program linking consumers and farmers.
CVPS customers can choose to receive all, half or a quarter of their electrical energy through Cow Power, and pay a premium of 4 cents per kilowatt hour, which goes to participating farm-producers, to purchase renewable energy credits when enough farm energy isn’t available, or to the CVPS Renewable Development Fund. The fund provides grants to farm owners to develop on-farm generation. Farm-producers are also paid 95 percent of the market price for the energy sold to CVPS.

The program was designed to help farmers improve manure management while providing new financial
opportunities to Vermont dairy producers. Manure and other farm waste are held in a sealed concrete tank at the same temperature as a cow’s stomach, 101 degrees. Bacteria digest the volatile components, creating methane and killing pathogens and weed seeds. The methane, which is roughly 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, fuels an engine/generator.

Blue Spruce Farm in Bridport was the first CVPS Cow Power™ producer, starting in January 2005. Four other farms in are in the process of developing generators and are expected on-line late this year or early in 2007. The four farms, which received grants totaling more than $660,000 from the CVPS Renewable Development Fund to help get them started, include:

- Green Mountain Dairy Farm in Sheldon, owned by Brian and Bill Rowell, with 1,250 cows expected to produce 1.7 million kilowatt-hours per year;

- Montagne Farms in St. Albans, two farms owned by Dave Montagne, with 1,200 cows expected to produce 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year;

- Newmont Farms LLC in Fairlee, owned by Walter and Margaret Gladstone, with 1,020 cows expected to produce 1.4 million kilowatt-hours per year;

- and Deer Flats Farm in West Pawlet, owned by Dick and Rich Hulett, who plan to use surplus crops and 210 cows to produce 3.6 million kilowatt-hours per year.

“Customers like Hawkins House make Cow Power more than just a good idea,” Young said. “Thanks to them and
customers like them, CVPS Cow Power™ is quickly becoming an economic engine for farms while improving the
environment and expanding our renewable energy supply.”

Contact: Steve Costello (802) 747-5427 For Immediate Release: June 15, 2006