Dow Jones going solar at NJ location

Dow Jones & Co. CEO Les Hinton sent out the following announcement to the staffs of The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch.com, Dow Jones Newswires and Barron’s on Monday:

“Dow Jones is about to make a major investment in solar energy. This exciting project will make our South Brunswick campus the largest solar power installation at a single commercial site in the U.S.

“While the final details are still a few weeks from completion, our plan is to install photovoltaic panels above most of the available parking area on the South Brunswick campus – nearly 230,000 square feet in total – to generate 4.1 megawatts of electricity from the sun.

“At peak – no clouds and full summer sunshine – the system will be capable of supplying half our electricity needs at that location, which is by far the company’s biggest consumer of power. Accounting for the hours when sun isn’t bright or not shining at all, the system will provide 15% of the site’s electric needs over the course of a year. The system we are installing will even be capable of returning excess power to the grid on sunny weekends and holidays when our demand for power is diminished. Returning power to the grid reduces the need for electricity from non-renewable energy sources.

“This project grew out of News Corp.’s Global Energy Initiative and represents its largest commitment to onsite renewable power to date. It confirms Dow Jones’s commitment to environmental responsibility and clearly places us in the category of companies whose vision and imagination can make a difference.

“Not many think of New Jersey when they think solar power. Yet by leveraging the support of the utility PSE&G as well as New Jersey and South Brunswick officials, we will be able to make a multi-million-dollar investment in solar power economically attractive. We save the earth’s resources and save money too.

“This project was nurtured – at times against the odds – by a number of our colleagues, not all of whom can be named here. Louis Litwin and Emmanuel Roco, with some assistance on tax from Sudhir Bagga, proved the numbers really were in our favor. Andy Schwartzberg, Mike Paulucci, Steve Russell and Stephen Ogden have been directing the practical side of the planning. From Dow Jones’s own energy initiative, Cool Change, Paul Jakubski and Howard Hoffman imbued the effort with a justification beyond spreadsheets or blueprints.

“It will take a year to complete construction and flip the switch on solar power in South Brunswick. The parking lots will get a little messy in the meanwhile, but it will be worth it. Dow Jones will be a leader in renewable energy, which is appropriate because we already are the leader in renewing the business of news and information.”