Top Green Power Users

For the first time, a corporation ­leads EPA's national Top 25 list of green power purchasers. Wells Fargo & Company claimed the top spot, purchasing 550 million kilowatt hours annually. Organizations that purchase electricity generated from clean, renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro make up the quarterly list. After Wells Fargo & Company, Whole Foods Market ranks second and the U.S. Air Force ranks third. The U.S. EPA ranks fourth, with Johnson & Johnson rounding out the top five. Newcomers to the list include Cisco Systems Inc., New York University, Carbonfund.org, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and Kohl's Department Stores.

EPA's Top 25 green power purchasers are buying more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours of green power on an annual basis. This is equivalent to the energy needed to power more than 350,000 average American homes each year. The EPA Green Power Partnership encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the use of electricity from fossil fuels and to diversify America's fuel supply. The partnership is comprised of a diverse set of organizations including Fortune 500 companies, small and medium businesses, government institutions as well as colleges and universities. EPA's Top 25 Green Power Partners is as follows, listed in order of purchase size:

1. Wells Fargo & Company

2. Whole Foods Market

3. U.S. Air Force

4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

5. Johnson & Johnson

6. Starbucks

7. DuPont Company

8. U.S. Department of Energy

9. Vail Resorts Inc.

10. HSBC North America

11. Cisco Systems Inc.

12. Staples

13. New York University

14. The World Bank Group

15. University of Pennsylvania

16. IBM Corporation

17. Carbonfund.org

18. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

19. NatureWorks LLC

20. Sprint Nextel

21. Safeway Inc.

22. Pennsylvania State University

23. Kohl's Department Stores

24. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

25. The Tower Companies

So what? Well, if you're interested in putting your money where it may do some good (or at least less bad), buy some groceries from Whole Foods, take a loan from Wells Fargo, or buy some staples at Staples.