Corporate Renewable Energy
Group Hits 360 Megawatt Mark, Launches Similar Effort in Europe
December 01, 2005 — By World Resources Institute
MONTREAL, CANADA — Some of the largest companies in the world today announced
that they have increased their purchases of renewable energy.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) and members of its Green Power Market
Development Group announced 185 new megawatts (MW) of renewable energy purchases
and projects, bringing the total number of MW under contract to 360 – the
average size of a coal-fired power plant. At 360 MW, these companies are more
than a third of the way to their goal of building markets for 1000 MW of new,
cost-competitive green power in the United States.
At a press conference today as part of the United Nations’ climate change
meetings, WRI also announced the launch of a similar corporate renewable energy
purchasing partnership in Europe.
The Green Power Market Development Group is a unique commercial and industrial
partnership dedicated to building corporate markets for green power. In the
United States its members are Alcoa Inc., The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont,
FedEx Kinko’s, General Motors, IBM, Interface, Johnson & Johnson, NatureWorks
LLC, Pitney Bowes, Staples and Starbucks.
“These companies are using clean energy to produce the products and services
people use every day. They are demonstrating that low carbon technologies can be
part of mainstream corporate energy purchases,” said Jonathan Lash, president of
WRI.
In fact, seven of these companies now purchase at least 10 percent of their
annual U.S. electricity consumption from renewables. Group members also are
among the largest non-utility buyers of renewable energy in the United States.
Johnson & Johnson is currently the country’s largest corporate buyer of green
power products. Johnson & Johnson and General Motors are the nation’s second and
third largest corporate users of solar photovoltaic systems. GM and DuPont are
the country’s two largest corporate users of landfill gas for thermal energy
while Starbucks, IBM and Johnson & Johnson are the three largest corporate
buyers of renewable energy certificates (RECs) from wind farms. RECs are
purchased separately from electricity and allow buyers to support renewable
power facilities without being located near the site where the electricity is
fed into the wires.
“Over the past five years, this partnership has helped IBM develop its approach
to renewable energy,” said Greg Peterson, manager of global energy for IBM. “IBM
now uses renewables to stabilize energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.” Projects and purchases in 2005 are taking place at more than 140
facilities across 15 states:
• Alcoa is installing 42 MW of new capacity at its Tapoco hydroelectric facility
in eastern Tennessee. The entire facility was just certified as low-impact by
the Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI), making it the largest LIHI-approved
hydroelectric project on the East coast.
• Starbucks Coffee Company is purchasing 150 million kWh per year of Green-e®
certified wind RECs – equivalent to 20 percent of the annual electricity
consumed by its U.S. company stores.
• IBM will be buying 96 million kWh per year of Green-e® certified wind RECs for
its U.S. facilities. This will be the fourth largest corporate purchase of
certified RECs in the United States.
• NatureWorks, LLC has contracted for 59 million kWh per year of Green-e®
certified wind RECs from the Great Plains, making NatureWorks® PLA the first
greenhouse gas-neutral polymer.
• DuPont, General Motors, IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Staples are installing 2.2
MW of on-site solar photovoltaic systems to provide electricity for corporate
facilities.
• FedEx Kinko’s, Interface and Pitney Bowes committed to 7 MW of new renewable
power and REC purchases.
Lash added, “These firms are joined today in Europe by an expanded set of
companies that will explore new renewable projects that complement progressive
EU policies on renewables. Climate change is a global issue, and these leaders
demonstrate that their companies can look across borders to find alternative
green energy solutions to fit their local circumstances.”
Four European companies — British Telecom, Holcim, IKEA and Tetra Pak — join the
European businesses of The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, General Motors,
Interface Europe, Johnson & Johnson, Nike (CSC) and Staples to form the Green
Power Market Development Group Europe. This new effort will explore
opportunities to install renewable energy generation systems such as solar,
wind, and biomass at their facilities in Europe and to purchase green
electricity from their utilities.
“As one of the world’s largest cement manufacturers, we are exploring ways to
reduce our climate impact. Through this initiative, we hope to find further
opportunities to diversify our corporate energy use with renewable resources,”
said Gerard Bos, vice president of procurement for Europe, the Middle East, and
Africa at Zurich-based Holcim.
The European partners will evaluate and deploy a variety of renewable energy
technologies and engage the marketplace to take green power to scale.
Collaborating with WRI on this effort is The Climate Group, an international
non-profit organization dedicated to building coalitions of businesses as well
as city, state and national governments to address climate change.
“The launch of the Green Power Market Development Group Europe will demonstrate
that companies can reduce their environmental impact whilst still running highly
profitable businesses,” said Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group. “Green
power is a dynamic and exciting part of our low carbon future.”
About the Green Power Market Development Group
The Green Power Market Development Group (www.thegreenpowergroup.org)
is a project of the Climate, Energy and Pollution Program of the World Resources
Institute. The World Resources Institute (www.wri.org)
is an independent, non-partisan, and nonprofit organization with a staff of more
than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical
analysts, mapmakers, and communicators developing and promoting policies that
will help protect the Earth and improve people’s lives.
Contact Info:
Paul Mackie
WRI senior media officer
(202) 729-7684
pmackie@wri.org