EPA announced its Green Power Partnership has grown to 600 partner organizations purchasing more than 3 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power annually, enough to power 300,000 American homes each year. This voluntary program includes Fortune 500 companies, universities, and local, state, and federal agencies.
Green power currently accounts for just 2 percent of America’s electricity supply, but voluntary purchasing of renewable energy is accelerating the development of new renewable energy sources. The voluntary green power market currently supports over 2,200 megawatts of new renewable generating capacity.
The Green Power Partnership has grown dramatically since it was launched with 21 Founding Partners in 2001. The 3 billion KWh purchased by the partnership has doubled in the past 15 months and grew 10-fold over the past four years. Partners in the program pledge to switch to green power for a specified minimum percentage of their electricity needs in return for EPA technical assistance and recognition.
“Five years ago, the voluntary green power market was focused primarily on residential purchasers, and there were only a handful of significant non-residential purchasers,” said Douglas L. Faulkner, acting assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. “The entry of commercial, industrial, and government purchasers into the renewable energy market has resulted in tremendous growth in the development of clean and limitless renewable energy resources.”
A report from DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), “Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report,” concludes that U.S. renewable energy capacity has jumped from 167 MW in 2000 to 2,200 MW at the end of 2004. The report is available at http://www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/resources/pdfs/38994.pdf
Johnson & Johnson is the largest U.S. corporate purchaser of renewable energy. To achieve its goal of reducing its CO2 emissions 7% below 1990 levels by 2010, the company is relying more and more on renewable energy. In 2004, 18% of J&J’s electricity worldwide came from green power.
The company is about to flip the switch the largest solar system in the East, a $3 million, 505 kW system. The system will provide an average of 6% of the Skillman campus’s energy annually.
The Top 10 Green Power Purchasers in the U.S:
US Air Force
US EPA
Johnson & Johnson
US DOE
The World Bank
Safeway
US General Services Administration
Whole Foods Market
City of San Diego
HSBC North America
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