What Is Green Power? EPA's Green Power Communities An Environmental Choice for Your Community Cities and towns across the country are increasingly recognizing the roles they can play in fighting climate change. Many of these leading local governments are partnering with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to become Green Power Communities (GPCs), in which the local government, businesses, and residents collectively buy green power in amounts that meet or exceed EPA's GPC green power use requirements. Become an EPA Green Power Community There are two pathways to becoming a Green Power Community: A. For any locality: 1. The local government must join the Green Power Partnership as a Partner and meet EPA minimum usage requirements. The local government can be a town, village, city, county, or tribal government. 2. The local government (or its designee) initiates a community-wide green power campaign to encourage local businesses and residents to use green power. 3. Once the community has met the green power usage requirement, the local government submits the GPC Partnership Agreement. B. For localities that have implemented Community Choice Aggregations (CCA), also known as Municipal Aggregations: 1. A CCA locality must meet or exceed the established GPC minimum green power usage requirements as a result of its CCA purchase. 2. An appropriate representative from the CCA locality's local government submits the GPC Partnership Agreement. Note that the CCA locality will not be listed separately as a Green Power Partner unless it makes a qualifying green power procurement for its own municipal electricity consumption. Join Now and Position Your Community for the Future &EPA GREEN POWER PARTNERSHIP" Clean Renewable Energy Green power is electricity generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, low-impact biomass, and low-impact hydro resources. An Environmental Choice Conventional electricity is one of the most sig- nificant environmental impacts in your commu- nity. Purchasing or using on-site green power is one of the easiest ways for a community to reduce its carbon footprint. Supporting Domestic Energy Supply Using green power helps to accelerate the development of new, domestic renewable energy sources, while playing an important role in the security of America's energy supply. ------- Benefits for Green Power Communities EPA's Green Power Partnership is ready to assist you in achieving your environmental goals through a green power purchase. The Green Power Partnership offers the following assistance to communities that join the Partnership. Publicity and Recognition EPA actively promotes arid recognizes Green Power Communities as environmental leaders. Your community can benefit from EPA's recognition and publicity efforts by: • Being highlighted on EPA's website (www.epa.gov/ greenpower/communities) » Using the EPA Green Power Partner mark on marketing materials and websites. • Becoming eligible for EPA's Green Power Community of the Year Award • Receiving two Green Power Community signs for outdoor display Tools and Resources EPA offers communities a variety of tools and resources located on the EPA website. EPA's tools and resources can be invaluable by: • Offering relevant and timely answers to procurement questions • Fostering peer-exchange opportunities for communities to share information on best practices and lessons learned about green power procurement • Assisting with messaging and promoting the concept of green power to your community stakeholders Welcome to a Green Power Community We exceed EPA guidelines for buying clean renewable energy [#§12014 • Providing you with a means to estimate the environmental benefits of switching to green power Credibility Becoming a GPC signifies that your community's green power commitment meets nationally accepted standards in terms of size, content, and resource base. This allows for you to compare your community's green power commitment to others and increase your community's stakeholders' confidence in your purchase. Why Buy Green Power? • A green power purchase is an easy and effective way for a community to reduce its carbon footprint. • A local government purchase of green power can demonstrate civic leadership and spur local residents and businesses to follow suit. • Using green power can create positive publicity and enhance your community's public image, including increasing citizen pride. • Purchasing green power can be a stepping stone for more sustainable action within a community. ------- Green Power Community EPA's Green Power Communities are collectively buying billions of kWh of green power annually, equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (C02) emissions from the electricity use of hundreds of thousands of homes. Santa Clara, California Since 2008, the City of Santa Clara, California, has been a proud EPA Green Power Community. With seven percent of residents and businesses in the com- munity purchasing green power, Santa Clara is near the top of the list of EPA Green Power Communities using the most kilowatt-hours of green power annually and is home to EPA's top green power user, Intel Corporation. In February 2007, the City Council issued a challenge to its residents to use clean power; people responded, and ever since, enrollment in green power programs has been climbing. Washington, D.C. In 2011, Washington, D.C., became the largest EPA Green Power Community and was one of two winners of the first- ever GPC Challenge, using more than 750 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, equal to more than eight percent of total electricity consumption. D.C. repeated its success in the second and third annual GPC Challenge, using more than 1 billion kilowatt-hours annually. "This is a huge honor for Washington, D.C., and we are proud to be recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency," said Mayor Vincent Gray. "The purchase of green power by our citizens and businesses is cleaning our air and supporting growth of the clean energy economy." Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park, IL is recognized as a regional leader in green power use for its Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program. In 2011, Oak Park set a national precedent with its CCA program by aggregating the community electricity load and purchasing green power from an alternate electricity supplier while still receiving transmission and distribution service from its existing provider. Oak Park was the first municipality in Illinois to choose a 100 percent green power portfolio standard for its residents and small business operators who participate in the CCA program. The program boasts an impressive 95 percent participation rate. Cornwall, Connecticut In 2010 the Town of Cornwall, Connecticut, became the first EPA Green Power Community in New England. The Town's green power campaign was led by the Cornwall Energy Task Force, which, through a grassroots effort, was able to motivate more than 30 percent of the local households to switch to green power. In recognition of the Task Force's accomplishments promoting clean energy and environmentally-friendly actions, they were honored by the Governor at an event in Hartford in 2009. 'iiiii iii? ------- Launch Your Green Power Campaign Today Join other leading U.S. communities by launching a green power campaign today. Before signing the GPC Partnership Agreement, communities must be collectively purchasing or producing green power on-site in amounts that meet EPA requirements. The table below outlines the respective EPA Green Power Community usage requirements based on the community's electricity use. Working with your local utility or power provider, determine the amount of electricity used within the community boundary (city limits). The community must collectively use green power in amounts that meet or exceed the corresponding percentage for the matching baseload electricity use level. Green Power Community Usage Requirements If your community's annual Your community must, at a electricity use in minimum, use this much green kilowatt-hours is... power to qualify as a GPC... > 100,000,001 kWh 3% of your use 10,000,001-100,000,000 kWh 5% of your use 1,000,001-10,000,000 kWh 10% of your use < 1,000,000 kWh 20% of your use About EPA's Green Power Partnership 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 purchased electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,500 Partners voluntarily using 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, federal, and tribal governments, and colleges and universities. For More Information: www.epa.gov/greenpower/communities/index.htm James Critchfield Green Power Partnership critchfield.james@epa.gov 202-343-9442 1KSIB EPA's Green Power Community Challenge The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosts an annual national, year-long campaign to encourage communities coast to coast to use renewable energy and fight climate change. As part of the campaign, Communities compete to see which one can achieve the highest green power percentage of total electricity use and which one can use the most green power. The winning communities are declared in September. Year Most Green Power Highest Percentage 2010- 2011 Washington, DC Brookeviile, MD 2011- 2012 Washington, DC Oak Park, IL 2012- 2013 Washington, DC Oak Park, IL I How Does the Challenge Work? Over the course of a year, GPCs track and report their collective green power use and green power percentage of total electricity use. GPCs are ranked according to the two award categories on EPA's website on a quarterly schedule. What Will Happen During the Challenge? The Challenge begins in September of each year. EPA will update the rankings in December, and April and June of the following year. Communities will be able to review the standings and make changes to their purchases until September 1, when the final green power use is determined. Throughout the Challenge, EPA is available to provide technical and outreach assistance to participants to help them increase their green power usage rates. The winning GPCs will receive recognition from EPA, including being featured on the GPP website. April 2014 ------- |