Mpowering Madison is a city wide effort to lower CO2 emissions. But, you might be surprised to know who is paying for it.

Mpowering Madison is a movement coordinated between MG&E, the city, university and 15 non-profit partners that asks residents to pledge to better our environment.

"The goal is we are asking the community to reduce our CO2 emissions by 100,000 tons and there are simple things that you can do to lower your CO2 emissions," said Jeanne Hoffman who is the city partner for the project. She also works with the Department of Public Works in Madison.

These simple things include buying renewable sources of energy, planting trees and conserving water.

Sustain Dane is one of the campaign's non-profit partners. For he past nine years they have worked with the city to better the environment.

"This is another way Madison and this community can take on a leadership role when it comes to sustainable communities," stated Bryant Moroder who is with Sustain Dane. "But this is an extension of that in which we can create a green capitol city that not only our community can be proud of but our businesses as well."

The funding for this campaign, comes from you. The state government requires that utilities invest a portion of each bill to educate and conserve. Every time you pay an electric bill, a small part goes to Mpowering Madison.

"It educates the general public," said MG&E's Steve Kraus. "It puts an awareness in front of them. They start asking more questions and we have the information we can supply them with the answers to these questions. And again the whole idea is to get our customers to be more energy efficient and to get them thinking about renewable resources."

Concluded Hoffman, "It is time for the city of Madison, both its government and residents to do its part to make sure future generations have a great place to live."

Mpowering Madison's website is www.mpoweringmadison.com