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EPA Partners Continue Large Green Power Purchases, Santa Clara Based Intel nearly doubles its green power usage

Release Date: 02/01/2011
Contact Information: Media Contact: Mary Simms, (415) 947-4270, [email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its list of the top 50 partner organizations using the most renewable electricity to help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions and protect people’s health. Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydropower. 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.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership’s largest single purchaser of green power, Intel Corporation, increased its commitment by nearly doubling its annual green power usage to more than 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh). This is the largest green power purchase to date in the partnership, and is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of more than 218,000 average American homes.
Intel Corporation develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Currently, Intel purchases more than 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours a year of renewable energy certificates, generated from wind, solar, geothermal, low impact hydro, and biomass sources, all Green-e certified. In addition, Intel has piloted on-site solar at several Intel facilities. Intel's purchase has the equivalent environmental impact of taking more than 340,000 passenger cars off the road each year, or avoiding the amount of electricity needed to power more than 215,000 average American homes annually.

“EPA’s Green Power partners are tapping into America’s growing clean energy market and powering the economy of the future,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson on Tuesday. “Investments like these are smart for business, foster growth in the green energy sector and help protect our health through cleaner air.”

“Our increased purchase of Green Energy and solar projects further advances our commitment to sustainability. We believe support for renewable energy is a key element to improving the changing energy supply landscape in the future, said Marty Sedler, Director of Global Utilities and Infrastructure for Intel. “Buying green power and installing renewable generation are just part of our overall energy management portfolio which includes other actions like conservation and investments in green technology.”

Kohl’s, second on the national top 50 list, joined Intel as the only two partners using more than 1 billion kWh of green power. Kohl’s increased its green power purchase to more than 1.4 billion kWh of green power annually. Staples more than doubled its green power commitment and Sony Corporation of America nearly doubled its green power purchase. Best Buy, Suffolk County, N.Y., and Drexel University are all making first time appearances on the national top 50 list. Collectively, these top 50 partner organizations 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.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,300 partner organizations to voluntarily purchase green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. Overall, partners are using more than 19.2 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to avoiding the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of nearly 1.7 million average American homes.

Santa Clara Based Intel nearly doubles its green power usage

This facility in Folsom California is an example of Intel's use of on-site solar at several Intel facilities. The company has completed nine solar electric installations at Intel locations in four U.S. states and Israel, collectively generating approximately 3.8 million kilowatt hours per year of clean solar energy. Intel, whose renewable energy credit purchase will exceed 85 percent of its estimated U.S. electricity use, was again named the largest voluntary purchaser of green power by the EPA.


More information on the top 50 list:
https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top50.htm

More information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership:
https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/

To view Intel’s press release on this topic please visit: http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2011/02/01/intel-increases-renewable-energy-credit-purchase-to-25-billion-kilowatt-hours