The EPA has revised its membership requirements to its Green Power Partnership program (PDF). The revision was first proposed last December.
Under the revisions, the window for making an initial green power purchase has been narrowed to six months, compared with the previous requirement of one year, after joining the partnership. The change goes into effect immediately.
The EPA will delay implementation of the new minimum electricity levels for membership and subsequently for the Green Power Leadership Club until January 2011. The move is designed to allow members adequate time to integrate the new targets into their planning and budgeting process.
Purchase of existing renewables or onsite use of existing renewables will now be phased out of the Partnership. Members are now required to purchase all their green power from “new facilities that commenced operation after Jan. 1, 1997.
Purchase of “future REC's” will now be counted in the year they are generated, not purchased. For franchised or co-branded facilities, requiring public disclosure, and affirming that in the case of leased space, only the party purchasing green power can make environmental claims.
Last October, the EPA announced that the combined efforts of the Green Power Partnership leadership awards amounted to nearly 5 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, equivalent to powering more than 460,000 average American households each year.
