MEMPHIS, TN,
Dec. 3, 2009
(Business Wire) -
Verso Paper Corp. announced today its participation in the Department of Energy's (DOE) Save Energy Now Leader program in which the Company has pledged to reduce energy intensity by 25% over the next ten years. Verso representatives, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Jackson, and Director of Energy Technology, Mark Daniel, officially signed the pledge at a ceremony hosted by Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC on December 2, 2009.
"The Save Energy Now program fits well with Verso's energy strategy, which is to reduce energy consumption overall, generate more green energy from renewable biomass, and reduce our carbon footprint, while simultaneously reducing cost," said Verso's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Jackson. This partnership pledge offers Verso an opportunity to utilize the expertise of the DOE staff and our engineers to implement the projects necessary to achieve the Company's energy efficiency goals."
The DOE established the Save Energy Now Leader initiative to partner with industry and contribute to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act goals through industrial energy intensity and carbon reductions. Through partnerships with states, local entities, utilities, associations and end-users, industry can leverage resources to increase energy efficiency and save energy and money. Presiding over the signing ceremony was the DOE's Industrial Technology Program Manager, Douglas Kaempf, who recognized the participating companies as having "distinguished themselves as energy-management champions among their industry peers."
In addition to the Save Energy Now program, Verso has been actively working with the DOE on a variety of energy initiatives. In October of this year, Verso received a $9.3 million grant award from DOE, which was equally matched by the Company, to install 12 energy projects in three of Verso's four mills. These projects are shovel ready and are designed to reduce the thermal energy needed in the pulp and papermaking process to produce Verso's coated paper products.
