EPA Recognizes Connecticut as One of Nations Top Green Power Purchasers (CT)
(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/greenpowertoplists/top50.htm
Information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership: https://www.epa.gov/greenpower
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