DOE, EPA, and CRS Announce the Green Power Leadership Awards

October 24, 2007

DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) recognized a variety of organizations and two individuals on October 22nd for their work to advance and develop the voluntary purchase of electricity from renewable energy sources, also known as green power. DOE selected six companies for its 2007 Green Power Supplier Awards, including Constellation NewEnergy; 3Degrees; Sterling Planet; SunEdison; Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain Power; and Silicon Valley Power. The combined green power provided by those six winners equals more than 5 billion kilowatt-hours per year, which is enough to power nearly 465,000 average U.S. households. See the DOE press release.

The EPA recognized the West Division of Macy's Inc., the Timberland Company, and the City of Chico, California, for their on-site generation of solar power, and also recognized New York University and six companies for purchasing green power. The EPA also named the City of Bellingham, Washington, and six more companies as their Green Power Partners of the Year. Among all the companies, PepsiCo stands out as a partner of the year, because three of its bottling companies were also honored for buying green power. In addition, CRS awarded its Market Development Awards to the Western Washington Green Power Campaign, Clif Bar, and two individuals: John Schaeffer and Bill Spratley. See The EPA press release and the full list of awardees.

The awards were announced in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the Twelfth National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, which concludes today. Throughout the country, more than half of all U.S. electricity customers now have an option to purchase some type of green power product from a retail electricity provider. Roughly one-quarter of the nation's utilities offer green power programs to customers, and voluntary retail sales of renewable energy in the United States totaled more than 12 billion kilowatt-hours in 2006, a 40% increase over the previous year. For more information on green power, see DOE's Green Power Network Web site.