Fortune 500 Companies Look Towards Green Power

Corporations such as Target, Staples, Pitney Bowes and State Street have all decided to take steps towards making their organizations more environmentally sustainable.

Staples, Pitney Bowes and State Street, all based in New England, are participating in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership program which encourages the purchase of green power. All three companies were also recognized by the EPA for meeting and/or exceeding the requirements for green power purchases.

Both Staples and State Street managed to purchase renewable energy certificates to offset 20% of their power usage. Staples is also aiming to reduce its carbon footprint 7% by the year 2010 and continues to utilize solar power installations to meet its increasing energy needs. Pitney Bowes received recognition from the EPA by buying green energy credits equivalent to 3% of its electricity use.

Overall the EPA listed 53 companies out of the Fortune 500 for meeting or exceeding its Green Power Partnership program standards. Intel used the greenest power, with it accounting for 46% of its total electricity use. Some organizations, such as the EPA, even managed to use 100% green power.

Target , which is also a Fortune 500 company, is trying its hand at LEED certification for its new stores. Following the footsteps of REI, Target plans to make its stores more energy efficient by attempting to build them to LEED standards.

Two prototype LEED certified stores will be built in Target’s home state of Minnesota. The stores will feature restrooms with low flow toilets to conserve water usage, mercury free light bulbs and HVAC units that are more than 30% more efficient than standard HVACs. 75% of the waste from the construction process of the store will be recycled and more than half of the materials needed to build the store will be from relatively local sources. Target has even planned to build 100 LEED stores throughout the year 2009.

While this is definitely a step in the right direction for corporate America, some of the nation’s biggest polluters still largely ignore green energy leading to America’s role as one of the largest CO2 emitters in the world overall and per capita.

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