U.S. corporations purchase megawatts of green power
WASHINGTON, DC, US, 2004-12-15 Refocus Weekly
Six companies in the United States have purchased 39 MW of renewable energy certificates.
For the second year in a row, members of the Green Power Group lead the
market in purchasing RECs, of which 18 MW is attributed to windfarms and 21 MW
to biomass generation. The six companies that purchased 210 million kWh of
Green-e certified RECs include Alcoa, Delphi, FedEx Kinko's, Interface, Johnson
& Johnson, and Pitney Bowes.
DuPont and Johnson & Johnson will use 21 MW of landfill gas at several
facilities to offset the use of natural gas for on-site energy generation, while
Johnson & Johnson, IBM and Staples increased their use of wind power by 2
MW, with Staples installing two 280 kW on-site PV in California.
The Green Power Group is a commercial and industrial partnership dedicated to
building corporate markets for green power. It was convened by the World
Resources Institute in 2000, with a goal to create 1,000 MW of new
cost-competitive green power for corporate markets by 2010.
Earlier this year, WRI and the Green Power Group were selected for the ‘Green
Power Pilot Award’ by the Center for Resource Solutions, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy for developing
corporate green power markets in the U.S.
“Renewable energy is available, affordable and offers companies economic and
environmental benefits today," says WRI president Jonathan Lash. “Natural
gas prices, electricity reliability issues, and environmental concerns are all
driving companies to diversify their energy purchases.”
The 62 MW is sufficient power for 46,000 homes and covers purchases made in the
past year for 80 facilities in 18 states. It brings the total purchases by the
Green Power Group to 174 MW over the past three years.
“Such large purchases by well-known Fortune 500 companies signal that
renewable energy is coming into the mainstream,” says Michael Eckhart of the
American Council on Renewable Energy.
Since 2000, the U.S. wind industry has experienced an annual growth rate of 35%
while solar power is growing at 26% a year. Johnson & Johnson is one of the
largest users of wind and solar power in the U.S., while five members of the
Green Power Group purchase green power for at least 10% of the domestic power
consumption.
The Environmental Protection Agency says U.S. government agencies buy 620
million kWh of green power each year, while U.S. military installations buy 360
million kWh and major universities purchase 150 million kWh per year. This is
equal to the power used by 105,000 homes.
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