Green Power Partnership

Green Power Planet #15
December 18, 2006

The Green Power Planet provides updated Green Power Partnership program information to Partners and interested stakeholders. In this edition of the Green Power Planet:

• Welcome New Green Power Partners
• EPA Launches Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge
• Recap of 11th National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference
• Green Power Leadership Award Winners Announced at Conference
• NREL Releases New Green Power Marketing Report during Conference
• Sector Spotlight: Update Regarding Higher Education Challenge
• Wells Fargo in the News: Commits to Largest-Ever Corporate Purchase of Renewable Energy in the United States
• EPA Updates Top Partner Lists
  • Deadline for Next Submission
• Contacting EPA’s Green Power Partnership
• Green Power Planet Archives

Welcome New Green Power Partners

Welcome to the following 50 organizations that recently joined the Green Power Partnership:

Review the complete list of Partners at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/index.htm.

EPA Launches Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge

On December 4, executives from Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Staples, Starbucks, and Wells Fargo & Company joined Kathleen Hogan, Director of EPA’s Climate Protection Partnerships Division, to kick off the Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge at a press conference in San Francisco, Calif., during the 11th National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference. Each company announced new or increased green power purchases to coincide with the launch of the challenge.

The goal of the campaign is to double the total green power purchases by Fortune 500 Green Power Partners to more than 5 billion kilowatt-hours annually by the end of December 2007.

More than 40 Fortune 500 companies are already participating in the Challenge. To view the list, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/fortune500.htm. The list is current as of December 4, 2006, and will be updated on January 29, 2007, to reflect data received from Fortune 500 Partners by January 8, 2007.

Media coverage resulting from the news conference included: CNNMoney.com, San Francisco Examiner, San Jose Mercury News, Power Market Today, Technology News Daily, Earthtimes.org, and SocialFunds.com. Coverage can be viewed by visiting the newsroom page on the Green Power Partnership Web site.

Recap of the 11th National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference

The 11th National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, sponsored by EPA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), took place in San Francisco from December 3–6. Nearly 450 industry leaders convened in San Francisco for the conference to discuss issues affecting the renewable energy industry, including: policies affecting carbon and renewable energy markets, green power product design, and effective marketing strategies. Keynote speakers during the conference included:

• Michael Peevey, President, California Public Utilities Commission
• S. David Freeman, President, Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners (former General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power)

Green Power Leadership Award Winners Announced at Conference

EPA, DOE and CRS announced the annual Green Power Leadership Awards, recognizing leading national green power purchasers and suppliers, in conjunction with the 11th National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference. Kathleen Hogan, Director of EPA’s Climate Protection Partnerships Division; Jerry Kotas, Senior Environmental Scientist, NREL; Linda Silverman, Program Manager, DOE; Dr. Jan Hamrin, President of CRS; and Karl Rabago, Director of Global Regulatory Affairs, AES Corporation, presented the awards.
The 2006 Green Power Awards recognized outstanding achievements in the green power marketplace in the following three categories:

1. Purchasers – Partners of the Green Power Partnership
2. Partnership Suppliers – Renewable electricity providers, renewable energy certificate marketers, project developers, and equipment vendors
3. Market Development – Individuals, companies, and other industry leaders

Descriptions of each award recipient’s efforts and additional information regarding the 2006 Green Power Leadership Awards can be found in the 2006 Awards Ceremony program.

NREL Releases New Green Power Marketing Report During Conference

During the conference, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released its updated Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report (Ninth Edition). According to the report:

• At the end of 2005, more than 2,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewables capacity were being used to supply voluntary green power markets. This represents a 10-fold increase in the amount of renewable energy capacity serving voluntary green power markets since the year 2000.
• Non-residential green power sales doubled in 2005.
• In 2005, wind energy supplied 55 percent of green power sales, followed by biomass (26 percent), hydropower—often from small or low-impact installations—(7 percent), landfill gas (6 percent), geothermal (6 percent), and solar (1 percent).
• In 2005, renewable energy sold in competitive markets or as renewable energy certificates (RECs) represented an equivalent renewable energy capacity of more than 1,700 Megawatts (MW), with more than 1,300 MW of this total coming from new renewable energy resources.
• Nearly all RECs sales were to non-residential customers. Increasingly, REC sales have come to dominate the green power market. In particular large national-scale companies and organizations find RECs to be an attractive green power option because of the greater flexibility they offer in cost savings and procurement.
• Demand by the non-residential sector appears to be increasing and will likely continue to drive future voluntary market growth.

To view the report, visit: http://apps3.eere.energy.gov/greenpower/resources/featured.shtml

Sector Spotlight: Update Regarding EPA’s Higher Education Challenge

EPA’s College and University Green Power Challenge
Since launching in April, the College and University Green Power Challenge has more than doubled in size! As of December 1, more than 60 schools across 17 different collegiate athletic conferences are purchasing almost 700 million kilowatt-hours of green power.

The Challenge runs through spring 2007. View the the current standings.

The next update, scheduled for January 29, 2007, will reflect information received from Partners by January 8, 2007. Please note: Only completed, voluntary purchases made by program Partners will be counted.

Wells Fargo in the News: Commits to Largest-Ever Corporate Purchase of Renewable Energy in the United States

Wells Fargo & Company made national headlines in October when it announced a purchase of 550 million kilowatt-hours of wind power renewable energy certificates (RECs) for each of the next three years. This purchase makes Wells Fargo the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the United States.

The purchase represents 40 percent of Wells Fargo's electricity consumption and is comprised of 100 percent Green-e® certified new wind energy. Wells Fargo is preventing the emission of 380,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) each year, the equivalent of reducing the CO₂ emissions of 75,000 cars annually or by reducing the equivalent CO₂ emissions associated with 40 million gallons of gasoline each year.

Wells Fargo’s announcement received widespread national media attention, including stories that appeared in Forbes, Reuters, San Francisco Business Chronicle, Associated Press, Grist Magazine, and the Houston Chronicle. Additionally, the story was featured in dozens of other national, local, and trade (energy industry) publications. You can view Wells Fargo’s news coverage by visiting the Newsroom page on EPA’s Green Power Partnership Web site.

If your organization has media coverage of its green power purchase, please e-mail it to Cena Swisher (cena.swisher@erg.com, 703-841-0398) so that we can post it on the Green Power Partnership Web site.

EPA Updates Top Partner Lists

In October, EPA updated its quarterly rankings of organizations making the largest green power purchases within the Green Power Partnership. New entrants on the lists include:

• Wells Fargo, DuPont Company, Vail Resorts, and Sprint Nextel (Top 25)
• California State University (CSU) System (Top 10 College & University)
• Coldwater Creek, Giant Eagle (Top 10 Retail)

To view these and other Top Partner lists visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/index.htm.

Next Update: January 29, 2007
Partner Information Submission Deadline: January 8, 2007, Reflecting
Completed Purchases.

Partners with updated green power purchase information for inclusion in the January update should contact Anthony Amato (anthony.amato@erg.com, 617-357-4630), their account manager, or Partnership staff.

Green Power Planet Archives

• Issue 24, March 19, 2009
• Issue 23, December 22, 2008
• Issue 22, September 18, 2008
• Issue 21, June 25, 2008
• Issue 20, March 13, 2008
• Issue 19, December 19, 2007
• Issue 18, September 11, 2007
• Issue 17, June 18, 2007
• Issue 16, March 20, 2007
• Issue 15, December 18, 2006
• Issue 14, September 11, 2006
• Issue 13, June 6, 2006
• Issue 12, February 24, 2006
• Issue 11, November 11, 2005
• Issue 10, August 26, 2005
• Issue 9, June 6, 2005
• Issue 8, March 17, 2005
• Issue 7, December 14, 2004
• Issue 6, October 4, 2004
• Issue 5, July 29, 2004
• Issue 4, May 27, 2004
• Issue 3, May 7, 2004
• Issue 2, December 19, 2003
• Issue 1, June 25, 2003