The current administration is big on companies volunteering to be environmentally friendly. Case-in-point:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is asking Fortune 500 companies to step up to the plate and double their current level of green power purchasing. Green power is environmentally friendly electricity obtained from renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydro. The goal of the green power challenge is to exceed 5 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power purchases among participating companies. Five billion kilowatt hours could power more than 400,000 average American homes or avoid the equivalent CO2 emissions associated with more than 680,000 passenger cars each year.
"Through the Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge, we are encouraging the largest companies in the country to purchase more green power," said Bill Wehrum, EPA's acting assistant administrator for Air and Radiation. "Purchasing green power is good for the environment, good for the economy and good for our energy independence."
Here's a list of the (large) companies volunteering. If this program is to work, we all have to feel good about what these companies are doing and then go out and buy their products or their stock. Why else would a company volunteer to buy more expensive power?
