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EPA Recognizes Connecticut as One of Nation’s Top Green Power Purchasers

Release Date: 08/30/2010
Contact Information: Paula Ballentine, 617-918-1027

(Boston—August 30, 2010) For the third year in a row, the State of Connecticut has been named one of only three states making EPA’s top 50 list of national Green Power Partners, ranking 36th on that list. This year, Connecticut will be purchasing more than 107 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, which is enough green power to meet 17 percent of the state’s purchased electricity use.

Connecticut’s purchase of green power resources began with Governor Rell’s Energy Vision for a Cleaner, Greener State, which set a goal of increasing the percentage of clean, renewable energy consumed by state government from all sources to 20 percent by the year 2020. "We are well on track to achieve the goal of obtaining 20 percent of the electricity used by the state of Connecticut from renewable sources by 2020," Governor M. Jodi Rell said. "This demonstrates and validates Connecticut's leadership on energy and climate issues." EPA estimates that the State of Connecticut’s green power purchase of more than 107 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of nearly 13,000 passenger vehicles per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 9,000 average American homes.

“Green power” is defined as electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydro. These resources generate electricity with zero anthropogenic (caused by humans) carbon dioxide emissions and offer a superior environmental profile to conventional power generation. In addition, buying green power helps support the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide.

The purchase helps support the state’s Energy Vision for a Cleaner, Greener State initiative. The goal of the initiative is to create measurable ways to reduce the cost of energy for consumers and businesses, strengthen state energy policy over the long- and short-term and reaffirm Connecticut’s position as a leader in renewable energy.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,200 partner organizations to voluntarily purchase green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. Overall, EPA’s green power partners are using more than 17 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the CO2 emissions from electricity use of more than 1.5 million average American homes.

More information on the national top 50 list: https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top50.htm

Information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership: https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/

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