Lake Travis ISD Makes List of Top Green Power Purchasers

Posted: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:29 PM - 11,965 Readers

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that for the first time Lake Travis Independent School District, Austin, Texas, appears on EPA’s Top 20 K-12 list of the largest green power purchasers among primary and secondary schools. Lake Travis Independent School District is purchasing nearly two million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 15 percent of the district's purchased electricity use. Lake Travis Independent School District is buying a utility green power product from Austin Energy. This purchase demonstrates a proactive choice and a leading commitment to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner renewable energy alternatives.

According to the EPA, Lake Travis Independent School District's green power purchase is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions of nearly 300 passenger vehicles per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power nearly 200 average American homes annually. Lake Travis Independent School District currently ranks No. 7 on EPA’s Top 20 K-12 Schools List.

“Strong partnerships are more important than ever. Through it’s green power purchase the Lake Travis Independent School District is helping EPA meet some of our highest priorities,” said EPA Regional Administrator Al Armendariz. “Lake Travis ISD is leading the way for other school districts.”

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,200 partner organizations voluntarily purchasing billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500 companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities.

Intel Corporation remains the Partnership’s largest single purchaser of green power, increasing its green power commitment over the previous year to more than 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh). This corresponds to the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of over 133,000 average American homes. Kohl’s Department Stores increased its green power purchase by more than one billion kWh in 2009, becoming the second-largest green power purchaser within the Partnership. PepsiCo, Whole Foods Market, the City of Houston, Dell Inc, The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Johnson & Johnson round out the Partnership’s top ten purchasers. Together, these ten leaders are buying more than 7.3 billion kWh of green power annually, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of more than 680,000 average American homes.

More information on the top 50 green power purchasers list: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top50.htm

Information on EPA’s Green Power Partnership: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower

More about activities in EPA Region 6: http://www.epa.gov/region6

EPA audio file is available at http://www.epa.gov/region6/6xa/podcast/jan2010.html

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