December 20, 2006—The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking Fortune 500 companies to step up to the plate and double their current level of green power purchasing. The goal of the Green Power Challenge is to exceed 5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power purchases among participating companies. This amount could power more than 400,000 average American homes, explains EPA.
More than 40 Fortune 500 companies participate in the Green Power Partnership; their annual green power purchases currently total 2.5 billion kWh. EPA’s current top five Fortune 500 partners are Wells Fargo Company, Whole Foods Markets, Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks, and DuPont Company. Corporations who are significantly increasing their green power purchase levels include Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett Packard (HP), Staples, Starbucks, and Wells Fargo & Company.
The overall Green Power Partnership is comprised of Fortune 500 companies, local, state, and federal governments, trade associations, and colleges and universities. Green Power Partnership members purchase more than 7 billion kilowatt hours of green power on an annual basis.
EPA defines “green power” as environmentally friendly electricity obtained from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydro. EPA hopes that this 13-month effort will raise awareness of green power options and help stimulate the development of new green power resources nationwide.
