Intel and Starbucks among the top green energy purchasers in the US

The EPA says Intel, which has almost doubled its annual green power usage to reach more than 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), has achieved the largest green power purchase to date in the partnership, the equivalent to avoiding (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of more than 218,000 average American homes.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,300 partner organisations to voluntarily purchase green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. Green power is defined as having been generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydropower.

The EPA says purchases of green power help accelerate the nation’s voluntary green power market and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful pollutants that threaten Americans’ health from the power sector.

Kohl’s, which comes in at second place on the top 50 list, joins Intel as the only two partners using more than 1 billion kWh of green power. Kohl’s has increased its green power purchase to more than 1.4 billion kWh of green power annually.

Both Kohl’s and Whole Foods Market now purchase 100pc of their electricity from green power sources.

In fourth place, Starbucks now purchases over 573,000 kWh of green power, or 55pc of its total electricity.

Meanwhile, Staples more than doubled its green power commitment and Sony Corporation of America nearly doubled its green power purchase.

Best Buy, Suffolk County, NY, and Drexel University have all made first-time appearances on the national top 50 list.

The top 50 green energy purchasers:

1. Intel Corporation
2. Kohl’s Department Stores
3. Whole Foods Market
4. Starbucks
5. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6. City of Houston, TX
7. Johnson & Johnson
8. Staples
9. City of Dallas, TX
10. HSBC North America
11. Cisco Systems, Inc.
12. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. / California and Texas Facilities
13. US Environmental Protection Agency
14. District of Columbia
15. U.S. Air Force
16. TD Bank, N.A.
17. BNY Mellon
18. City of Chicago, IL
19. University of Pennsylvania
20. BD
21. U.S. Department of Energy
22. Kimberly-Clark Corporation
23. State of Illinois
24. Deutsche Bank
25. Pearson, Inc
26. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
27. Sony Corporation of America
28. Bloomberg LP
29. Montgomery County Clean Energy Buyers Group
30. Motorola, Inc
31. Best Buy
32. Suffolk County, NY
33. Mohawk Fine Papers Inc.
34. The World Bank Group
35. Dell Inc
36. Lowe’s
37. Chicago Public Schools
38. State of Connecticut
39. Hilton Worldwide
40. The Dannon Company, Inc.
41. Lockheed Martin Corporation
42. Safeway Inc
43. State of Wisconsin
44. Harris Bank
45. Sprint Nextel
46. Carnegie Mellon University
47. ING
48. Drexel University
49. Pennsylvania State University
50. Port of Portland

Collectively, these top 50 partner organisations are using more than 13.5 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the CO2 produced from the electricity use of more than 1.1 million average American homes, says the EPA.

Speaking on Tuesday following the release of the EPA’s Green Power report, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said that partners are tapping into America’s growing clean energy market and powering the economy of the future.

“Investments like these are smart for business, foster growth in the green energy sector and help protect our health through cleaner air.”