Green power buyers? You might be surprised - By Doug Mohney

Views and Opinions on Green IT (Nov 3 2010)

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   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Top 50 list of Green Power Buyers this week.  Intel has the top spot with Kohl's Department Stores at number two and 100 percent of its power from green purchases, while Wal-Mart doesn't even crack the top 10 -- talk about surprises!

   Rankings were determined by the total number of kilowatt hours (kWh) each entity purchased. Intel -- yah, the chip guys -- buys more than 1.4 billion kWh annually of green power, more than half of the company's total energy usage.  It buys power from certified green energy broker Sterling Planet, utility PNM and does on-site generation with a mix of biogas, biomass, geothermal, small-hydro, solar, and wind.  It's pretty impressive.

   But who would have thought a department store change would get all of its energy -- 1.367 billion kWH -- from green sources and on-site generation? Kohl's is doing it, which begs the question of if it can do so, shouldn't all "green" data centers claiming the label? 

   Another shocker is Dell Computers, which is listed as having 129 -- yes, one hundred twenty-nine -- percent green power; so the company is buying 29 percent more green credits over and above its current power load.   Number 7 on EPA's top green power purchases, Dell has been flogged by Greenpeace in the past for building electronics with PVCs and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).   Maybe Dell could buy some credits for Facebook's data center to balance the scales?

   Cisco is only at number twelve on the list (270 million kWh), but I feel they should get some credit since the company's energy buy is 29 percent green.  Still, Starbucks and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania manage to outgreen Cisco on a percentage basis, with Starbuck's buying 55 percent of its power as green while PA buys 50 percent of its 500 million kWh hours form green sources.

   My biggest take away from the EPA's top 50 list is that if large profitable companies and major city and state governments can buy large amounts of green power -- and this in an era where government budgets are tight -- green data centers better be able to put up or shut up when it comes to power from renewable sources.  Or do you mean to tell me that Starbucks (55 percent green power), Whole Foods (100 percent) and the Kohl's around the corner (100 percent) can do a better job finding green power than most data center operations people?

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