EPA Green Power Partnership Tops 3 Billion Kilowatts






Washington - The Environmental Protection Agency's 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.

"President Bush has asked the nation to diversify our energy supply by promoting alternative and renewable energy sources, and once again, EPA's partners are leading the effort," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.

"By making the voluntary decisions to switch to green power, these companies and organizations are helping to decrease our nation's overall dependence on foreign sources of power and demonstrating outstanding environmental stewardship -- defending our health, our environment, and national security."

Green power is electricity generated from environmentally preferable, renewable resources such as mainstream the purchasing of green power electricity generated by renewable energy sources including solar, wind, water (hydro), geothermal, biomass (combustion of organic materials) and biogas (combustion of naturally-produced methane).

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.

This EPA voluntary program standardizes green power procurement as part of best practice environmental management. 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.