Green Power Partnership
Fact Sheet
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
April 27, 2007
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FEATURED RESULT: Through the Green Power Partnership (GPP), more than 8.2 billion kilowatt hours of green power are being purchased by companies, colleges, municipalities, and other organizations annually. This is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 670,000 average American homes per year or needed to reduce the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions of more than 1.1 million passenger cars on U.S. roads. |
Purpose of Initiative: The GPP, created in 2001, helps organizations reduce the environmental impact of their electricity use from fossil fuels. The partnership works with a range of organizations such as Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, U.S. Government agencies, and cities to help them purchase green power -- solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Buying green power can also provide tangible market transformation benefits by helping to develop new, domestic renewable energy capacity that produces electricity with significantly less air pollution and no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. In 2007, the Partnership is sponsoring a challenge campaign with a goal of increasing the total green power purchases by Fortune 500 corporations to five billion kilowatt hours annually. The GPP will also continue its quarterly listing of the 25 largest green power purchases in the United States, as well as the 10 largest purchases in the college & university, retail and federal and local government sectors.
Partners: As of April 2007, more than 700 organizations are participating in the GPP. For a complete list of partners, please go to: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/gpp_partners.htm. Leading partners include:
U.S. Government: U.S. Air Force, Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Energy; Department of Veterans Affairs
Private Sector: PepsiCo, Wells Fargo & Company, Johnson & Johnson, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and DuPont Company
Academia: New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, California State University system, and Duke University
Partnership Targets: The partnership establishes annual goals.
For 2006, the GPP goals were as follows:
• Purchase 0.5 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE) and reduce carbon emissions by approximately 1.4 MMTCE.
2007:
• Purchase 11 billion kilowatt hours of green power; and
• Double the purchase of green power from Fortune 500 companies under the recently launched Fortune 500 Challenge.
Progress Toward Targets: EPA's GPP has surpassed its 2005 and 2006 goals for purchases of green power and avoided emissions of greenhouse gases and is on track to meet goals through 2012.
Next Steps: EPA's Green Power Partnership is working throughout 2007 to fulfill the goals of the Fortune 500 Challenge. Additionally, the Partnership will continue to conduct its College and University Challenge, and maintain its Top 25, 100% Green Power, and its Green Communities lists which are updated quarterly to reflect new purchases by its partners. The Green Power Partnership program will also sponsor the annual Green Power Marketing conference and concurrent green power awards ceremony (jointly with the U.S. Department of Energy) October 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The awards ceremony will recognize those companies and/or institutions that have made an outstanding commitment to the purchase of green power in the United States.
Resources: This program is implemented with a modest amount of funding which is used to provide technical assistance and recognition to participating organizations. As a result, partners purchase green power and promote those purchases to stakeholders.
The GPP provides technical and marketing resources to organizations that commit to purchasing green power. Resources include: procurement guidance, green power product information, the Green Power Partner logo, press release templates, and environmental benefits calculations.
USG Primary Points of Contact:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
Matt Clouse (202/343-9004; clouse.matt@epa.gov -- General Green Power Partnership questions
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