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EPA'S Illinois Green Power Partners cut greenhouse gas emissions

Release Date: 02/09/2009
Contact Information: William Omohundro, 312-353-8254, [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 09-OPA016

(Chicago, Ill. - Feb. 9, 2009) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 announced today that its 2008 top-ranking Green Power Partners in Illinois reduced their greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 by buying more than 445 million kilowatt-hours of electricity from renewable resources such as solar and wind power.

The partners are city of Chicago, 215 million kWh; PepsiAmericas Inc., Schaumburg, 157 million kWh; Northwestern University, Evanston, 40 million kWh; Baxter International Inc., Deerfield, 29.5 million kWh; General Converting Inc., Bolingbrook, 1.8 million kWh; Talbott Hotel, Chicago, 1.4 million kWh; Goodness Greeness, Chicago, 500,000 kWh; Tartan Realty Group, Chicago, 332,000 kWh; Digital Hub, Chicago, 30,500 kWh; and Farr Associates, Chicago, 16,670 kWh.

The green power bought by these organizations is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of some 57,996 passenger cars per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power some 41,941 average American homes for a year.

"These Illinois organizations are protecting our environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Cheryl Newton, director of EPA Region 5's Air and Radiation Division. "We hope others will follow their lead by voluntarily shifting to renewable energy."

Chicago ranked third among the top local government purchasers with 20 percent of its purchased electricity coming from MidAmerican Energy, Des Moines, Iowa. It was 16th on the national top 50 purchasers list.

PepsiAmericas ranked 23rd in the top 50 purchasers category, buying 100 percent of its purchased electricity from Sterling Planet, Norcross, Ga. It was sixth on EPA's 100 percent green power purchasers list.

Northwestern University was ninth in the top 20 college and university category, buying 20 percent of its electricity from 3Degrees, San Francisco, Calif.

Baxter International was 25th in EPA's Fortune 500 Challenge, buying 5 percent of its purchased electricity from 3Degrees and Constellation New Energy, Baltimore, Md.

General Converting, Talbott Hotel, Goodness Greeness, Tartan Realty Group, Digital Hub and Farr Associates were all on EPA's 2008 100 percent green power purchasers list. General Converting bought its green power from Green Mountain Energy, Austin, Texas; Talbott Hotel, Digital Hub and Farr Associates from Renewable Choice Energy, Boulder, Colo.; Goodness Greeness from Pepco Energy Services, Arlington, Va.; and Tartan Realty Group from GT Environmental Finance, Austin, Texas.

EPA's Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,000 partners to help them buy green power voluntarily as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. These green power purchases support the development of new, renewable generation resources nationwide. Overall, EPA Green Power Partners are buying nearly 16 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from electricity use in nearly 1.5 million average American homes.

Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and biogas, as well as low-impact hydropower. Green power resources produce electricity with an environmental profile superior to conventional power technologies and produce no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

More information on EPA's Green Power Partnership is at https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/