Verizon Supports Earth Hour in New Jersey; Pledges to Turn Off Lights at More than 100 Employee Locations Across the State

NEWARK, N.J., March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2013, Verizon made significant investments in sustainability and energy management in New Jersey, including placing fuel cells and solar panels at its corporate center in Basking Ridge.

Building upon those successes, Verizon employees in New Jersey will join the global Earth Hour movement at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday (March 29) and turn off lights at more than 100 buildings in the Garden State for one hour, helping to raise energy efficiency awareness and promote sustainable living.

Worldwide, Verizon and its employees have pledged to turn off lights at approximately 550 Verizon buildings and more than 3,800 Verizon employee homes across roughly 40 countries.

"Sustainability and energy management have been key initiatives at Verizon, and Earth Hour is a great way to generate awareness of these initiatives and participation from our employees in New Jersey," said Paul Sullivan, region operations president for Verizon New Jersey. "Events like this will reduce our carbon footprint and relieve demand on the electrical grid."

To see Verizon's participation in Earth Hour, visit: http://vz.to/PMMy25

Earth Hour is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, and the event inspires a global community of millions of people to switch lights off for an hour as a massive show of concern for the environment.

"Earth Hour provides each of us with a chance to not only act as greener citizens, but to also share and influence others to live greener lives," said James Gowen, chief sustainability officer for Verizon. "With Verizon Green Team members located across the globe, we are motivated and mobilizing for fifth straight year to work green and live green in honor of Earth Hour."

Verizon is encouraging its New Jersey employees to participate in Earth Hour. When Verizon employees pledge to participate from home, they are given a choice of several endangered animals to vote for and symbolically adopt via the World Wildlife Fund. For every 100 votes, Verizon will symbolically adopt one of those animals through a donation on behalf of its employees to the WWF.

Last year, Verizon planted 5,000 trees to honor its employees who participated in Earth Hour. Verizon also dimmed the illuminated Verizon and MetLife signs at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and the lights and signs at the company's Pearl Street building in Manhattan, call center in Pittsburgh, corporate campus in Basking Ridge, N.J.; and other company sites in Dortmund, Germany; and Reading in the United Kingdom.

Sustainability Legacy

Verizon has long been focused on energy efficiency and instituting sustainable real estate practices. Last year, Verizon invested $100 million in fuel cell and solar panels to help power nearly 20 Verizon facilities across six states, including locations in Basking Ridge and Freehold.  As an early adopter of fuel cell technologies, Verizon currently operates one of the largest fuel cell sites of its kind that helps power an environmentally friendly call-switching center and office building in Garden City, N.Y. Verizon also uses 26 solar-assisted cell sites in remote areas in the western United States to help power a portion of the nation's largest and most reliable wireless network serving those areas. 

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with nearly 103 million retail connections nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries. A Dow 30 company with more than $120 billion in 2013 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of 176,800. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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SOURCE Verizon