The recent announcement by the City of Austin, Texas, that it is now powers all of its facilities using only renewable energyhas made the municipality one of the U.S.’s top ten green power purchasers, according to data from the EPA’s Green Power Partnership.Austin currently buys 406 million kwh of renewable energy every year, placing it seventh on the list of the 50 largest green power purchasers. The city didn't rank in the last edition of the list published in July.The only municipality to purchase more green power that Austin is the City of Houston. Houston buys 438 million kwh of renewable power a year, powering 34 percent of the city’s activities and placing it fourth on the list.
IT giant Intel Corporation is currently the largest consumer of renewable energy in the United States. It currently consumes 2.5 billion kwh per year and has topped the list since January 2008.
Kohl’s Department Stores with 1.4 billion kwh a year and Whole Foods Markets with 752 million kwh annually rank second and third on the list.
For a chart of the organizations buying 100 percent green power, ranked by kWh purchased, click here.
For a chart of the top ten users of on-site power generation, ranked by kWh of generation, click here.
