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EPA: Top U.S. Renewable Electricity Purchaser Intel Fighting Climate Change, Increasing Green Power

Release Date: 01/25/2010
Contact Information: Mary Simms, Simms.mary@epa.gov, (415) 947-4270

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that Santa Clara Calif., based semiconductor chip maker Intel Corporation has increased its purchase of green power and ranks No. 1 on EPA’s National Top 50 List of green power purchasers.

“The race to reduce greenhouse gas emissions requires moving to renewable energy. EPA's Green Power Partners are leading by example.” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s newly appointed Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Intel, and companies like it, show that you can save the planet and your bottom-line by ditching polluting power sources and switching to green power.”

The EPA’s top 10 Green Power Partners increased their voluntary green power commitments by more than 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2009, while 300 new organizations joined the Green Power Partnership. Overall, the 1,200 partners are buying nearly 18 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from electricity use of more than 1.6 million average American homes.

Intel Corporation is purchasing more than 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 51 percent of the organization's purchased electricity use.

“We commend Intel for their outstanding efforts to maximize their renewable energy use and highlight that responsible corporations are leading the battle in the fight to solve the climate change challenge” added Blumenfeld.

Intel Corporation's green power purchase of more than 1.4 billion kWh is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions of nearly 197,000 passenger vehicles per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power nearly 134,000 average American homes annually.

Intel Corporation is buying renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Sterling Planet and a utility green power product from PNM, as well as generating green power on-site at its facilities.

This purchase also qualifies Intel Corporation for EPA’s Green Power Leadership Club, a distinction given to organizations that have significantly exceeded EPA’s minimum purchase requirements. Green Power Leadership Club members must purchase ten times the partnership’s minimum requirement organization-wide.

Intel Corporation remains the Partnership’s largest single purchaser of green power, increasing its green power commitment over the previous year to more than 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh). This corresponds to the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of over 133,000 average American homes. Kohl’s Department Stores increased its green power purchase by more than 1 billion kWh in 2009, becoming the second-largest green power purchaser within the Partnership. PepsiCo, Whole Foods Market, the City of Houston, Dell Inc, The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Johnson & Johnson round out the Partnership’s top ten purchasers. Together, these ten leaders are buying more than 7.3 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of more than 680,000 average American homes.


More information on the top 50 green power purchasers list: https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top50.htm Information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership: https://www.epa.gov/greenpower


Media Contacts:
U.S. EPA – SAN FRANCISCO:
Mary Simms
Simms.mary@epa.gov
(415) 947-4270