Published: Feb 11, 2011 The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its list of the top 50 partner organizations using the most on-site renewable electricity, under its Green Power Partnership.
The Green Power Partnership works with more than 1300 partner organizations to voluntarily purchase green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use.
Overall, partners are using more than 19 TWh of green power annually.In the specialized, on-site renewables category, the top 50 list is headed by the Kimberley-Clark Corporation, which uses on-site biomass plants to supply 180 GWh per year, or around 7%, of its total electricity use.
The City of San Diego uses on-site biogas, small-scale hydro and solar technologies to supply 70 GWh per year, more than a quarter of its total electricity use.
Third place is taken by the US Air Force, which uses biogas, solar and on-site wind to supply 62 GWh per year, although this represents just 1% of its total electricity use.The next largest users of on-site renewables are Wal-Mart Stores,
BMW Manufacturing and the City of San Jose.Among the entities with the largest proportion of total electricity use sourced from on-site renewables are the Encina Wastewater Authority and the City of Tulare wastewater treatment plant, which use biogas to generate 63% and 38% of their total electricity use.
Other partner organizations of note are the hair product manufacturer Zotos International, which uses on-site wind to generate 60% of its total use; and the City of Ann Arbor, which generates nearly a third of its total electricity use from biogas, small-scale hydro and solar technologies.