The top-10 partners increased their commitments by 1.5 TWh in 2009, while 300 new organisations joined the partnership, reports EPA. Intel remains the largest single purchaser of green power, increasing its commitment over 2008 to 1.4 TWh while second-place retailer Kohl’s Department Stores increased its purchase by 1 TWh.
The partnership
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the Green Power Partnership to encourage a variety of organisations, from Fortune 500 companies to governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities, to purchase electricity generated from renewable energy sources. It tabulates quarterly reports on the voluntary purchases of its 1200 partners.
“Green Power Partners are raising the bar for clean renewable energy use,” says Gina McCarthy of EPA. “By using green power, they’re doing their part to fight climate change and proving every day that sound environmental practices can also be economically sound.”
Green power is generated from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydropower. Purchase amounts reflect US operations only and are sourced from US-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA requirements by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates, on-site generation or utility green power products.
Top purchasers
The 1,433,200 MWh purchased by Intel provides 51% of the company’s demand. The 1,367,376 MWh purchases by Kohl's Department Stores provides 100% of demand.
PepsiCo is third with 1.2 TWh purchased in 2009; Whole Foods Market (790 GWh), City of Houston, Texas (438 GWh), Dell (431 GWh), Pepsi Bottling Group (426 GWh), Cisco Systems (400 GWh), state of Pennsylvania (400 GWh), and Johnson & Johnson (386 GWh) round out the top 10.
The US Air Force, City of Dallas, HSBC North America, US Environmental Protection Agency, Wal-Mart Stores, Starbucks, BNY Mellon, City of Chicago, Kimberly-Clark, University of Pennsylvania, US Department of Energy, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, DuPont, Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank are the balance of the top 25.
100% from renewable energy
The top 10 purchasers which meet 100% of internal demand from renewable energy are Kohl's Department Stores, PepsiCo, Whole Foods Market, Dell, Pepsi Bottling Group, US EPA, Deutsche Bank, PepsiAmericas, The World Bank Group and Mohawk Fine Papers. The top ten for on-site resources are Kimberly-Clark (biomass), Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (biogas), City of San Diego (biogas, small-hydro, solar), San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant (biogas). CalPortland (wind), US Air Force (biogas, solar, wind), Nassau County (biogas), BMW Manufacturing (biogas), City of San Francisco (biogas, solar), and Wal-Mart Stores (solar).