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Interface Purchases More than 33,000 Tons of Carbon Offsets with NativeEnergy

Interface Purchases More than 33,000 Tons of Carbon Offsets with NativeEnergy

Published 02-23-06

Submitted by Interface, Inc.

Interface, Inc. announced today that it is furthering its sustainability mission by adding an estimated 33,000 tons of emission reduction credits (ERCs) to its existing portfolio of projects to offset the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with its Cool Carpet products.

Since 2003, Interface's customers have bought more than 15 million square yards of Cool Carpet globally, retiring more than 250,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions from a balanced portfolio of offset projects. Interface's ERC purchases to date equate to 54,000 cars not driven for a year, or 28 million gallons of gas not consumed.

The new investments will be made through NativeEnergy in Midwest wind farms and family-owned dairy farms in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Among the dairy farm projects is the Schrack Family Farm, a continuous dairy operation of the Schrack family since the American Revolution.

After rigorous review by the Climate Neutral Network's Environmental Advisory Board, NativeEnergy's ERCs from these sources qualify for inclusion in Interface's Cool Carpet Portfolio. Critical to the eligibility of the ERCs is that the projects can demonstrate "additionality" - that project implementation is not just "business as usual". The Network's advisory board includes representatives of the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, the Rocky Mountain Institute and other prominent NGOs.

Interface calculated the amount of CO2 emissions from raw materials, manufacturing, transportation and customer use and had the emissions verified by the Climate Neutral Network. Interface then offset those emissions by purchasing Climate CoolTM certified ERCs from NativeEnergy's renewable energy projects.

Interface sees its sustainability practices, particularly with Cool CarpetTM, as a major step toward addressing climate destruction. "Addressing the global warming impact of carpet goes far beyond planting trees to remove CO2 from the atmosphere," says Mike Bertolucci, president, Interface Research Corporation.

"A more enduring solution involves the pragmatic and scientific approach Interface has taken to calculate the total emissions from the life cycle of the carpet and secure and retire the necessary amount of certified offsets to neutralize those impacts."

Wind farms and methane energy projects are win-win sources of cost-effective, greenhouse gas reduction. They provide much needed energy while helping reduce problems associated with animal waste and industry's dependence on natural gas, coal, and foreign supplied oil. Renewable energy sources reduce pollution by displacing energy that would otherwise have to come from fossil fuel combustion. Farm methane abatement projects prevent the release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from manure storage lagoons, by digesting the manure anaerobically, producing even more methane, but then capturing and burning it to generate electricity and useful thermal energy.

Tom Boucher, NativeEnergy President & CEO, says, "Businesses like Interface are supporting our renewable energy projects by investing in these emerging projects because it's the right thing to do for our energy and economic security and environmental protection."

Interface offers Cool Carpet in the U.S. through Interface Flooring Systems, the world's leading manufacturer of modular carpet (LaGrange, GA and Belleville, Ontario, Canada) and Bentley Prince Street, a leading producer of broadloom and modular products in City of Industry, CA. All i2™ products sold by Interface Flooring Systems and all Bentley Prince Street™ products purchased within the State of California automatically include the Cool Carpet attribute for no additional charge. The attribute is available on any Interface® or Bentley Prince Street product for a small upcharge.

About Interface
Atlanta-based Interface, Inc. (NASDAQ: IFSIA), is a global leader in the manufacture of environmentally-responsible floorcoverings and other textiles in the U.S., Asia-Pacific and Europe through subsidiaries and divisions such as Bentley Prince Street, Interface Fabrics, Interface Flooring Systems, InterfaceFLOR and the Prince Street House & Home Collection™. The company is committed to giving the marketplace a wide range of choices for specifying Earth-friendly and third party certified Environmentally Preferable Products, with the industry's first climate neutral carpet, Cool Carpet™, as well as the only carpet product to be designed using biomimicry, the i2™ collection from Interface Flooring Systems. The company also offers a residential carpet product made by InterfaceFLOR with facecloth fibers produced from a rapidly-renewable, corn-based polymer. Online at: www.interfacesustainability.com

About NativeEnergy
American Indian majority-owned, NativeEnergy is a national marketer of renewable energy credits or "green tags," offering individuals and organizations a means to compensate for their global warming pollution, or to effectively power their homes and businesses with renewable energy. NativeEnergy's patent-pending business process brings upfront payment to renewable projects for their future green tag output, enabling its customers to help finance the construction of new wind farms and other renewable energy projects, such as tribal wind projects and methane digesters on Pennsylvania family dairy farms, which directly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels to meet the nation's electricity needs. NativeEnergy also offers Green-e certified green tags from operating wind farms and Climate Neutral Network certified offsets from operating CO2 mitigation projects. Online at: www.nativeenergy.com.

Interface, Inc. logo

Interface, Inc.

Interface, Inc.

Interface, Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet, which it markets under the InterfaceFLOR, FLOR, and Bentley Prince Street brands. Bentley Prince Street also is a leader in the designer-quality broadloom carpet market. In the mid-1990s, Interface’s Chairman and CEO Ray C. Anderson shifted the company’s strategy, aiming to redesign its industrial practices to instead focus on sustainability without sacrificing its business goals. Interface is committed to doing business in ways that minimize the impact on the environment. Interface companies have adopted an aggressive vision - To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is, in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so, to become restorative through the power of influence. In respecting that vision, every creative, manufacturing and building decision Interface makes, moves it closer to the goal of eliminating any negative impact Interface companies have on the environment.

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