Refrigerator campaign helps utility meet renewables mark

Under the gun to become more green, Sierra Pacific Power is developing geothermal, solar and wind-driven facilities to generate power.

It's collecting old refrigerators, too.

The Reno-based utility said last week it's once again paying customers $30 each for old refrigerators that are turned in for recycling.

The campaign, now in its sixth year, is operating with a budget that's more than doubled from last year, when about $38,000 was paid to customers who recycled nearly 1,300 old refrigerators and freezers.

The effort counts toward a state mandate that requires that Sierra Pacific generate at least 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2015, said John Hargrove, who manages the refrigerator program for Sierra Pacific.

State law allows Sierra Pacific to count energy conservation toward that goal, and getting old refrigerators out of circulation is a big step in that direction.

The utility figures that 10-year-old refrigerators use two to three more times power than newer models manufactured to federal energy efficiency standards.

Multiply that savings by the 1,273 refrigerators recycled last year and Sierra Pacific figures it saved nearly 2 million kilowatts of power. That's enough to meet the needs of 450 new homes.

And it's a lot less expensive than building a geothermal or solar plant.

JACO Environmental Inc., a Seattle-area company that uses a patented process to break down old refrigerators, recycles the metals, plastics and glass in old refrigerators and disposes of toxins and gases. Sierra Pacific says at least 95 percent of refrigerator components are recycled.

The utility will support the recycling effort with inserts in its bills, print and broadcast advertising and a public relations effort, Hargrove says.

The program runs through December or until funds are exhausted.