2010 Green Power study shows promise for corporate commitment to renewable energy and CSR

When evaluating the overall performance in terms of corporate responsibility for large corporations the consumption of energy/electricity use is naturally a good starting point. As green power continues to grow in popularity and versatility many large companies are making dramatic inroads into running their energy practices more diligently toward green power. Only a generation ago the idea of a large company sourcing all of their energy needs from solar, wind, biomass and geothermal sources seemed more like a script from a sci-fi movie than an imminent reality. What’s encouraging is that while the technology continues to grow in number of companies have already demonstrated that it’s possible to not only integrate green power within their energy use but that it can even account for 100 percent of all energy used based on existing technology.

The Green Power Partnership in tandem with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have released their list of top 50 national organizations in terms of total green power used for 2010. Green power purchasing obviously has a twofold benefit of reducing environmental impact from traditional electricity use but also strengthening the growth of renewable energy companies in the marketplace. Statistics were compiled based upon companies using renewable energy certificates, the on-site generation of energy or implementation of utility green power products. The full report allows you to break down the best performance by industry such as retail, college and university, federal government, local government and schools.

I was especially impressed by the fact that a number of large organizations have already achieved the monumental goal of 100% dependence upon green power with a number even selling back excess to the grid. This has been achieved in the retail sector by Kohl’s Department Stores, Whole Foods Market and REI being the largest within the field. A number of large banking and financial services have also achieved 100% green power including HSBC (who run a surplus) TD Bank and Deutsche Bank. In each case customers and consumers who rely upon the choices we have in the marketplace should understand that green power is not only an option but a reality, HSBC for example have reached 112% of their energy needs exclusively through wind power. The entire list of companies and organizations running at 100% or better is available here. http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/partner100.htm

The largest overall consumer of green power in 2010 (US) was the Intel Corporation who use more than 2.5 billion kwh of energy from renewable sources which comprised 88% of their overall energy use, a remarkable figure that is nearly double the amount of any other corporation in the country. While many organizations are just commencing the journey toward green power via biomass, wind or solar those smaller percentages of green energy use are certain to increase in the years ahead; government bodies, universities and city management are all in the business of best reflecting the demand of local citizens – those that use their services. Another fascinating report within the portfolio is a list of Fortune 500 companies using sizable amounts of green power from sectors ranging from healthcare to automotive.

The full report is certainly worth a few minutes of your time and represents a tablet that any company would want to climb. The 2010 Green Power Partnership/EPA study is available here.

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