Tower Companies #17 on EPA's Top 25 Green Power Partner List

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has once again put The Tower Companies -- the local Washington area's leading developer of green buildings with over one million square feet of green projects -- on its 2006 Top 25 Green Power Partner List.

The local family-owned business founded in 1947, was the 17th-ranked firm on the prestigious, nationwide EPA list which included the U.S. Air Force, Wells Fargo, Whole Foods Market, Johnson & Johnson, DuPont Company, and IBM, among others. It was also the only real estate developer on the list.

The Tower Companies secured its position on the list by using wind power to meet 100 percent of its energy needs -- 79 million kilowatt hours (kWh). Its use of wind power enabled Tower to beat out entities such as the California State University System and the cities of Austin, Texas and San Diego, California.

Since October 2005 the EPA has listed Tower as one of the nation's top 'green' companies, and this year the Bethesda developer moved up on the list from its previous spot of 23rd.

In addition to its use of wind power, Tower has focused on using non-toxic materials and adhering to U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED criteria for all of its properties. It has convinced fellow development partners, Lerner Enterprises and the Polinger Company, to do the same.

The Tower Companies is a leader among the real estate giants, helping to change the real estate industry one green building at a time. "As the largest users of electrical energy in the country, the real estate industry should be part of the solution, reducing energy consumption, and thereby reducing the harm of toxic emission and pollutants into the atmosphere," stated Marnie Abramson, Principal of the company.

The Tower Companies built America's first LEED-certified apartments in Silver Spring, MD, Blair Towns, and has won numerous city, county, state and national awards for its green efforts, including the Leadership Award for green power purchasing of EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy. The Tower Building (http://www.towerbuilding.com/) was recently certified as an Energy Star building. For information about The Tower Companies, visit: http://www.towercompanies.com/. For information about EPA's top 25 list, visit: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top25.htm.

Every time a light, a computer, or a motor is turned on, a power plant consumes fuel to generate energy. When fossil fuels are burned to produce electricity, pollutants are released into the atmosphere, affecting climate change and increasing smog and acid rain. When we lower our demand for energy, it helps reduce the amount of energy generated and that means less pollution. (ENERGY STAR Web site http://www.energystar.gov/)