Cadence Network Completes One of the Top 10 U.S. Green Energy Deals for Office Depot

Energy management firm used its strategic buying power to help Office Depot ‘green up’ and shed 12 percent of utility usage at 1,019 stores nationwide

March 2, 2007

Cincinnati, OH — March 2, 2007 — Today Cadence Network, a leading utility, lease, and telecom expense management firm, announced the successful completion of a ‘green up’ partnership with Office Depot, which helped the retailer replace 12 percent of its nationwide electrical consumption with environmentally-friendly energy sources at its 1,019 stores. This purchase of renewable energy was completed through Cadence’s proven aggregation model of buying energy in bulk to gain substantial discounts from its provider network—which includes one of the nation’s largest alternative energy pools—then bundling them to create a cost-effective energy plan.

For Office Depot, Cadence used its national network to create what became one of the top 10 green energy programs in the United States. The result: Office Depot replaced 12 percent of its conventional energy sources with 51 percent wind, 48 percent biomass of recycled vegetative material and 1 percent solar. This is the equivalent to Office Depot planting more than 12,000 trees, removing 8,000 cars from the road, or eliminating approximately 100 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

And now, by leveraging Cadence’s buying power, Office Depot is one of the top five U.S. companies in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy.

“Green power is becoming a more appealing and cost-effective option,” says Christian Blattenberger, Manager, Energy Procurement Consulting for Cadence Network. “We have successfully combined our energy procurement efforts and environmental strategies to create a solution that both maximizes Office Depot's procurement options for purchasing renewable energy and helps the company meet their corporate responsibility goals. Additionally, the green energy plan will make a positive impact on the environment.”

Since 1997, Cadence has negotiated electricity for corporate-owned stores and associations, and drastically reduced their electricity costs in deregulated markets. Cadence has used its in-house team of green power experts to put together a cost-effective green power plan for several national chains. 

For more information on Cadence and their green up project, please contact Kathleen Rodriguez at 610-642-8253 ext. 174 or Kathleen@GregoryFCA.com.

About Cadence:
Cadence Network, Inc. delivers comprehensive utility, telecommunications and lease facility expense management to multiple-site businesses including chain stores and the government. The people, services and software of Cadence Network enable businesses to gain control over electric, gas, water, waste, lease and telecommunications expenses by streamlining such services as invoice auditing and payment, rate analysis, and procurement. At work in more than 250,000 locations nationwide, Cadence Network is an EnergyStar Partner of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and a proud supporter of The Arbor Day Foundation.

CONTACTS
Cadence Network Contact: Ben Dolan, Cadence Network, Inc. 866-CADENCE (866.223.3623) bdolan@cadencenetwork.com