Friends of National Grid’s Floe Demonstrate the Collective Power of
Action and Come Together to Combat Climate Change
It began innocently enough. In May 2008, National Grid launched its new
interactive Floe Web site, www.nationalgrid.com/floe,
and people across the world started to log on. They played games,
adopted virtual polar bears, and started making pledges to take easy,
everyday actions to decrease their carbon footprints.
What started as fun and games spawned a revolution. A community of tens
of thousands of individuals has joined together to make a significant
difference for the environment through the power of many small, yet
important actions. To date, the Floe community has pledged to save more
than 52 million pounds of carbon, and that number continues to grow
daily. This carbon reduction equates to taking approximately 4,200 cars
off the road for a year or recycling nearly 411,000,000 soda cans.
Since her arrival, Floe has captivated people around the globe. She has
been featured in news articles and televisions shows in places as far
away as Belgium and Hong Kong, and she took “Best in Show” at the 2008
MITX Awards, which recognize the best interactive technology and web
achievements of New England companies.
“We are absolutely thrilled to see how popular the Floe Web site has
become,” said Tom King, president of National Grid in the U.S. “Floe’s
friends continue to illustrate the tremendous impact that can result
from the collective power of our actions.”
Anyone interested in joining this online community can log on at: www.nationalgrid.com/floe
to interact with Floe and learn how their energy choices and daily
actions have either a positive or negative impact on the environment.
Every time a user does something to benefit the environment – such as
using energy efficient products, reusable shopping bags, or taking
showers instead of baths – the iceberg upon which Floe lives grows.
Visitors can even adopt and name a virtual polar bear, feeding it fish,
playing ball with it, training it, and watching it grow.
The Floe site also provides links to National Grid’s energy efficiency
programs and services plus energy information and tips from the company
and outside sources. King urges National Grid customers to take
advantage of the company’s energy efficiency programs.
”In these tough economic times we’re all looking for ways to save
money,” King said. “Our cost-effective energy efficiency programs and
tips offer quick and easy ways for customers to reduce their costs and
their carbon footprints.”
National Grid is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in
the world. We deliver electricity and gas efficiently, reliably and
safely to millions of people across Great Britain and the northeastern
U.S., investing continually in our networks to provide the unparalleled
service that is vital to our customers and communities. Our talented,
diverse workforce is committed to tackling climate change and
safeguarding our global environment for future generations, and we
believe this can best be accomplished by engaging our customers,
communities, governments, employees and others to join us in using the
power of action to achieve significant results together.
National Grid is an international energy delivery company. In the U.S.,
National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million
customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island,
and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement
with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA). It is the largest
distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S., serving
approximately 3.4 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
York and Rhode Island. National Grid also owns over 4,000 megawatts of
contracted electricity generation that provides power to over one
million LIPA customers.
National Grid
Jackie Barry, 508-389-2637
Media Relations
