January 27, 2010
Austin Shines on EPA Recognition Lists

Austin businesses and schools notched top-level spots in the new EPA Green Power Partnership lists that recognize the “top” Retail, K-12 Schools, Local Government, Fortune 500 companies and more – for participation in renewable energy programs. Almost 90 Austin Energy GreenChoice® customers are recognized among some 10 EPA lists of top performers – one of the best showings by any utility green power program in the country.

The Austin Independent School District is number one among K-12 schools nationwide, purchasing almost 66-million kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable energy annually or 40 percent of their energy use. Other top 20 K-12 Austin Energy customers include the Round Rock Independent School District at number 2, Lake Travis at number 7 and the Pflugerville Independent School District at number 15. The four school districts together purchase almost 86 million kWh of green power annually.

H-E-B is ranked 9^th among the top 20 Retail partners nationwide.  The grocery company buys 65 million kWh of green power for its stores in Austin and San Antonio.

Some 10 Austin corporations make the list recognizing the top Fortune 500 companies.

Whole Foods is ranked 4^th nationwide purchasing 790 million kWh annually through a combination of renewable energy credits and energy for their 280 stores located in Austin and the U.S. Austin area high techs also weigh in with Advanced Micro Devices ranked 23^rd purchasing 74 million kWh green power or 100% of their annual energy use. Applied Materials is number 26 with 35 million annually in green power purchasing. IBM is ranked number 35, Freescale number 37, Apple number 40, State Farm Insurance 41, Oracle is 43, Time Warner Cable is 46 and 3M is number 50.

The City of Austin ranks 9^th among Governmental top performers. The City is purchasing about 78 million kWh of green power annually – about 18% of their annual usage. The City has a goal, as part of the Austin Climate Protection Plan,  to be 100% green by 2012.

The EPA partnership list of “100% Green Power Purchasers” includes 79 Austin businesses. These are companies listed for purchasing renewable energy to meet 100% of their annual energy use. In fact, Austin businesses purchase about 85% of the green power sold by Austin Energy – a participation level that has made the Austin Energy GreenChoice® program number one in the nation for sales every year since 2002. Austin Energy GreenChoice® outperforms more than 850 utility-sponsored green power programs nationwide.

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to help develop renewable resources and reduce the environmental impact associated with traditional power generation. 

For more information, contact Ed Clark, Public Information.
Phone: (512) 322-6514
Pager: (512) 802-200