State of Illinois, Chicago Public Schools and Harris Make List of Top Purchasers of Green Power (IL)
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
No. 10-OPA094
CHICAGO (Aug. 11, 2010) — The state of
Illinois, Chicago Public Schools and Harris N.A. have made the list
of the nation’s top 50 green power partners using the most
renewable electricity, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
announced today.
Of the three, the state of Illinois came in
highest on the list at number 23. The state purchases 176 million
kilowatt-hours of green power annually, about 33 percent of its
purchased electricity use.
While Chicago Public Schools rank 35 on the Top
50 list, the district tops the list of K-12 schools purchasing
green power. Chicago Public Schools purchase approximately 108
million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, enough to meet 20
percent of the district’s purchased electricity
use.
“Chicago Public Schools, as well as the
other Chicago-area partners, are teaching an important lesson by
changing how they purchase electricity,” said Cheryl Newton,
EPA regional Air Division Director. “All of EPA’s Green
Power Partners are raising the bar for clean, renewable energy
use.”
Harris N.A. is ranked number 42 on the Top 50
list, purchasing approximately 91 million kilowatt-hours of green
power annually, enough to meet 100 percent of its purchased
electricity use.
EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with
more than 1,200 organizations to voluntarily purchase green power
and reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity
use. Green power is generated from renewable resources such as
solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydropower.
Green power electricity generates less pollution than conventional
power and produces no net increase in greenhouse gas
emissions.
The green power purchases support the
development of new, renewable generation resources
nationwide.
Together, the Green Power Partnership’s
top purchasers use more than 17 billion kilowatt-hours of green
power annually, equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions
from the electricity use of more than 1.5 million average American
homes. More information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
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