b'MEMBER SPOTLIGHTPeoples Gas at 175| Proud of its Past, Focused on the FutureOn Sept. 4, 1850, the company became Chicagos first utility when gas started flowing beneath Lake Street to power lamps. This year, Peoples Gas is celebratingoriginally installed in 1861, the year its 175th anniversary. On Sept. 4,Abraham Lincoln became president. 1850, the company became ChicagosThe pipes removal is part of our first utility when gas started flowinglarger effort to retire all of Chicagos beneath Lake Street to power lamps.aging iron natural gas mains near-In that era, a team of lamplightersing the end of their useful lives. The traveled throughout the growing city,old mains are being replaced with manually lighting each gas lamp,modern pipes made of high-tech illuminating Chicago with the newplastic that better weathers Chicagos technology. freeze-and-thaw cycles, and is less Maria Bocanegra, PresidentToday, Peoples Gas deliversprone to leaks.Peoples Gas energy across Chicagos 77 distinct neighborhoods and has technologiesEYES ON A BRIGHT, that include renewable natural gas,SUSTAINABLE FUTUREzero-carbon hydrogen, pipes made ofChicagos modernized energy system high-tech materials and ultraefficientalso will ensure ongoing delivery of gas heat pumps. decarbonized energy such as renew-Two things remain unchangedable natural gas. This energy is in the over the past 175 years at Peoples GasPeoples Gas system today thanks toproviding safe and reliable service,our partnership with a communi-and a focus on the future. ty-oriented energy producer on the A MEETING OF THE ERAS citys south side. The Green Era cam-pus creates renewable natural gas by Chicagos past, present and future arediverting food waste from landfills. intertwined with the work of PeoplesThis prevents carbon from hitting the Gas. Such a parallel was perhaps neveratmosphere.made clearer than this April, when ourThe new pipes we install also union construction crews unearthedposition Chicago for hydrogen to and officially retired a section of gaseventually be blended into the energy main that served Chicagos downtownmix. Peoples Gas recently tested for 164 years. The pipe section washydrogen at our training facility. 18ILLINOIS BUSINESS LEADER'