FROM: EPA
EPA Releases List of Top 50 Green-Powered Organizations Intel, Kohl’s, Microsoft rank in top three WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released an updated list of the Top 50 Green Power Partnership organizations voluntarily using clean, renewable electricity from resources such as solar, wind, and low-impact hydropower. Intel Corporation tops the list as the largest single user of green power, followed by Kohl’s Department Stores and Microsoft Corporation. Combined, the Top 50 partners are using more than 15 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually. Through their use of green power, these top organizations are avoiding carbon pollution equal to that created by the electricity use of more than 1.3 million American homes each year.
EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,300 partner organizations, over half of which are small businesses and nonprofit organizations, to voluntarily use green power. Green power resources produce electricity with an environmental profile superior to conventional power technologies, and produce significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
“We applaud all of our Green Power Partners for their use of clean, renewable energy. For the first time, each of the Top 50 partners is using more than 100 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Their actions help to reduce harmful carbon pollution that threatens the health of our planet and the air we breathe, and mark another step toward a new era of clean, innovative American energy.”
Intel has ranked number one on the list since 2008 and uses more than 2.5 billion kWh annually, or 88 percent of the company’s nationwide electricity use. Microsoft, which holds the number three spot, and McDonald’s USA LLC, which ranks eleventh, are new to the list.
The Green Power Partnership also updated the rankings of the 100 Percent Green Power Users list, which highlights close to 700 partners using green power for their entire electricity load, as well as its Top 20 Retailers and Top 20 Local Governments lists. Kohl’s ranks number one on both the Top 20 Retailers and 100 Percent Green Power Users lists while the City of Houston ranks number one on the Top 20 Local Governments list.