Epa Green Partnership Can Power 300,000 Homes
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 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. ThE voluntary program includes Fortune 500 companies, universities, and local, state, and federal agencies.
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.
