The plan is to capture the methane from cow manure and burn the resulting biogas for energy production. This creates a new sustainable energy source while at the same time removing a proven greenhouse gas from the environment. Or, as quoted in the New West newspaper of Bend: "In perhaps the greatest statement of all time, NW Natural said it likes the idea taking a problem such as the smell and pollution from cow feces and turning it into a positive."

What neither paper reports is that the discussions for this Smart Energy program, in which customers can pay a few dollars more per month to offset the carbon dioxide produced by their natural gas consumption, began with CUB Executive Director Bob Jenks. He went to NW Natural a few years ago with a proposal: since Oregon's large electric utility companies are now offering renewable portfolio options to help customers cut their carbon output from electricity consumption, we should help customers do the same on the gas side. He argued that Oregon's renewable electricity programs' success, ranked tops in the nation for voluntary participation, boded well for interest in a similar program aimed at natural gas users.

The company was originally concerned about overtly linking natural gas, a relatively clean-burning fossil fuel, with the carbon emissions that feed global warming. But perhaps due to the increased visibility of global warming in the past two years, NW Natural did eventually agree that the idea was a good one. The company put together the Smart Energy Program, to help customers "green up" their gas usage. The result is easy to use and ready to go, and makes NW Natural the first stand-alone gas utility in the nation to offer customers a way to go carbon neutral. You can find out more about the program on NW Natural's website, and even sign up for Smart Energy in a matter of minutes (we already did!).

Bob Jenks's daughter Macy was captivated by the reports of this aspect of her dad's negotiation work ("You had a meeting about cow poop?!"). She produced a picture of the cow, the poop, and a nice warm home heated by the latter. We tried really hard to find that illustration to share with you here; unfortunately, we failed and you will just have to draw your own.