Environmentally Responsible Companies

Some companies voluntarily choose to 'go green' for the reputation effect:  Green companies are socially responsible, attracting more customers and increasing the value of their stocks.  I'm going to do my part to help the shareholders of some of these Green Companies by reproducing the EPA's list of the top 25 "Green Partners in the Green Power Partnership."

From the press release:

The 2006 Green Power Top 25 list, released today, includes a diverse set of U.S. companies, organizations and government institutions that have voluntarily bought the most renewable energy and are part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Green Power Partnership. EPA also announced its Green Power Partners are now purchasing more than 4 million megawatt hours of renewable energy, an increase of nearly 100 percent since the end of 2004.

The 2006 Top 25 green power purchasers are buying enough energy to power more than 300,000 homes a year, which is also comparable to removing the emissions of nearly 400,000 cars from the road annually. More than half of the Top 25 EPA green power purchasers are comprised of U.S. corporations, a number that continues to increase every year.

I particularly like the definition of Green Power:

Green power is electricity generated from environmentally-preferable renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, and low-impact biomass and hydro resources.

It's subtle, but the language has somehow changed from environmentally-friendly to environmentally-preferable.  Seems to be some sort of implicit weighting of environmental side-effects going on. 

Anyway, here's the January, 2006 list. 

The following is a list of the Top 25 Partners in the Green Power Partnership. Top 25 Partners are Partners whose annual green power purchase is the largest, and whose green power purchase has been completed. Their actions are helping drive the development of new renewable energy sources for electricity generation. Combined, their purchases amount to 3.3 million megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, which is approximately 75 percent of the green power commitments made by all Partners. These Top 25 Partners provide an example to their peers, customers, and community.

This list is current as of January 10, 2006. The Top 25 list is updated quarterly. The next update will be in April 2006.

Green Power Usage (MWh)	% of Total Electricity	Organization Type	Provider	Resources
1. U.S. Air Force
1,066,397	11%	Government (Federal)	3 Phases, American Electric Power, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Calpine, City Public Service of San Antonio, Rocky Mountain Generation Cooperative, Sterling Planet, TXU Energy, West Texas Utilities, Western Area Power Administration	Biomass, Geothermal, Small-hydro, Solar, Wind
2. Whole Foods Market
458,388	100%	Food, Food Services	Austin Energy, Community Energy, PNM, Renewable Choice Energy, Sky Energy	Biomass, Geothermal, Small-hydro, Solar, Wind
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
246,809	83%	Government (Federal)	Various	Biogas, Biomass, Geothermal, Wind
4. Johnson & Johnson
241,398	24%	Manufacturing	On-site Generation, 3 Phases, Peco Energy, Sempra Energy, Sterling Planet	Biomass, Small-hydro, Solar, Wind
5. U.S. Department of Energy
152,000	3%	Government (Federal)	Various	Various
6. Starbucks
150,000	20%	Food, Food Services	3 Phases	Wind
7. The World Bank Group
106,762	100%	Non-Profit	Wind Current	Wind
8. Safeway Inc.
87,000	2%	Retail	3 Phases	Wind
9. U.S. General Services Administration / Region 2
76,185	33%	Government (Federal)	Con Edison Solutions, Constellation NewEnergy, Other, PEPCO Energy Services	Biogas, Wind
10. HSBC North America
68,181	23%	Banking, Financial Services	3 Phases	Wind
11. City of San Diego, CA
65,400	25%	Government (Local, Municipal)	On-site Generation	Biogas, Small-hydro
12. New Jersey Consolidated Energy Savings Program
55,624	7%	Government (State)	PEPCO Energy Services	Biogas, Biomass, Small-hydro, Wind
13. Advanced Micro Devices / Austin, TX Facilities
52,448	100%	Manufacturing	Austin Energy	Biogas, Wind
14. WhiteWave Foods
49,500	100%	Food, Food Services	Bonneville Environmental Foundation	Wind
15. Staples
49,457	10%	Retail	Avista Utilities, Pacificorp, Portland General Electric, Sterling Planet, Tennessee Valley Authority	Biogas, Biomass, Solar, Wind
16. Austin (TX) Independent School District
48,827	30%	Education (K-12)	Austin Energy	Biogas, Wind
17. Mohawk Fine Papers Inc.
45,000	38%	Printing, Publishing	Community Energy, Sterling Planet	Wind
18. The Tower Companies
41,000	100%	Real Estate	Sterling Planet	Wind
19. FedEx Kinko's
40,600	15%	Retail	Various	Various
20 (tie). U.S. Army / Fort Carson
40,000	29%	Government (Federal)	Sterling Planet	Biomass, Wind
20 (tie). University of Pennsylvania
40,000	10%	Education (Higher)	Community Energy	Wind
22. Montgomery County, MD
38,412	5%	Government (Local, Municipal)	Washington Gas Energy Services	Wind
23. Hyatt Regency / Reunion & DFW Airport Hotels
35,300	100%	Travel, Tourism, Recreation	Green Mountain Energy	Various
24. Western Washington University
35,000	100%	Education (Higher)	Puget Sound Energy	Wind
25. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
34,800	3%	Government (State)	Community Energy	Wind