The EPA announced its annual list of top green power purchasers last month (here is the list from 2010, also with Intel on top). This includes categories for businesses, schools, and government. On the business side Intel takes the top honors while Kohl’s Department Stores slides into the runner-up position. Making a huge jump in the rankings was Walmart, who moved from 15th place for green power purchases up to third, with 28% of its overall power coming from renewable sources. While only 4% of Walmart’s total electricity needs comes from on-site generation, 872,382,088 kilowatt-hours of Walmart’s electricity in its facilities now comes from either biogas, wind power, or solar power. It is also interesting to note that Walmart now has the second highest amount of on-site green power generation (measured in kWh), second only to Kimberly-Clark Corporation as per this list. This is the real holy grail; to have on-site green power based on whatever renewable energy makes most sense locally.
Back to the top 10 green power purchasers, here is the top 10 as calculated by the EPA. Parentheses contain percentage of overall power, and amount of green power used annually:
- Intel Corp (88%; 2,502,052,000 kWh)
- Kohl’s Department Stores (100%; 1,524,656,000 kWh)
- Walmart Stores/California and Texas Facilities (28%; 872,382,088 kWh)
- Whole Foods Market (106%; 800,257,623 kWh)
- Johnson & Johnson (52%; 553,565,521 kWh);
- City of Houston, TX (35%; 438,000,000)
- Starbucks (52%; 421,921,000 kWh)
- City of Austin, TX (100%; 406,000,000 kWh)
- Staples (52%; 341,509,408 kWh)
- Hilton (94%; 315,000,000 kWh)
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