April 10, 2006

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the most recent national Top 10 Retail Partners list highlighting the largest retail purchases of renewable energy by members of the Green Power Partnership. The list reflects renewable energy purchases made through March 27, 2006.

Topping the list is Whole Foods Market, followed in second place by Starbucks. Rounding out the top six purchasers of green power are Safeway Inc., Staples, FedEx Kinko's, and HEB Grocery Company. A newcomer to the list is My Organic Market, reaching No. 10 on the ranking.

Whole Foods Market, Starbucks, Safeway Inc., Staples, and FedEx Kinko's also appear on EPA's most recent overall Top 25 list of the largest corporate green power purchasers in the Green Power Partnership.

The actions of the Top 10 Retail Partners help drive the development of new renewable energy sources of electricity generation. Combined, the green power purchases of the Top 10 Retail Partners amount to over 877,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of green power annually. This is enough renewable energy to power approximately 82,000 average U.S. homes per year or is equivalent to removing the emissions of 107,000 cars from the road annually.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program helping to increase the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations. The program encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the risk of climate change and environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity generation. Currently, the Green Power Partnership has over 625 Partners voluntarily purchasing nearly 5 million MWh of green energy. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as local, state, and federal governments, trade associations, universities, and Fortune 500 companies.

EPA updates both its overall and sector-specific lists of green power purchasers quarterly. The next scheduled update is set for July 2006 and will reflect information received by Partners as of June 26, 2006.

For more information on EPA's Green Power Partnership, visit: www.epa.gov/greenpower .

For more information on EPA's Top 10 List of Retail Partners, visit: www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top10retail.htm .

For more information on EPA's overall Top 25 list of Partners in the Green Power Partnership, visit: www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top25.htm .