by Brianna Crandall — April 19, 2013—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Partnership released its updated quarterly list on April 17 of the Top 50 organizations that are choosing to use electricity from clean, renewable sources, as well as Top Partner Rankings in several national and sector-oriented categories.
Intel Corporation continues to top the National Top 50 list, using green power to cover 100 percent of its electricity load. Microsoft Corporation moved into second place by increasing its green power use to more than 1.9 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. Apple Inc., new to the Top 50 list, ranks number 10 with 85 percent of its nationwide electricity now coming from green power.
The top 10 partners appearing on the Top 50 list include:
- Intel Corporation
- Microsoft Corporation
- Kohl’s Department Stores
- Whole Foods Market
- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Staples
- Starbucks Company-Owned Stores
- Lockheed Martin Corporation
- Apple Inc.
For the first time, EPA also released a list of partners that have committed to purchasing green power for a period of five years or more. These “Long-term Contract” organizations send a strong signal to renewable energy developers, stating that they are committed to green power for the long term and are helping to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions. Among the partners with the longest-running contracts are the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, The Ohio State University, Iowa State University, and the University of Maryland. Of the 47 partners appearing on the list, 15 are higher education institutions.
In addition, for the seventh year in a row, the agency is encouraging increased green power use among higher education institutions through the College and University Green Power Challenge . Out of the 32 competing conferences, the Big 10 is this year’s conference champion, collectively using more than 315 million kWh of green power annually and avoiding carbon pollution equal to that produced by the electricity use of more than 33,000 American homes. The University of Pennsylvania continues to be the top individual school in the challenge, purchasing more than 200 million kWh of wind power annually—more green power than any of the 75 other competing schools.
According to EPA, “green power” is a subset of renewable energy and represents the renewable energy resources and technologies that provide the highest environmental benefit. EPA defines green power as electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.
As part of the EPA’s Green Power Partnership, more than 1,400 organizations are purchasing more than 27 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, reportedly avoiding carbon pollution equal to that created by the electricity use of more than 2.8 million American homes. Besides the National Top 50 and Long-term Contracts listed above, the partnership provides quarterly Top Partner Rankings of organizations using green power in the following categories: 100% Green Power Users, Retail, Fortune 500, Federal Government, Local Government, College and University, Technology and Telecommunications, On-Site Generation, and K-12 Schools.
