Intel Tops 'Fortune' 500 For Green Power

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Intel(INTC), Kohl's(KSS), Whole Foods(WFMI), Starbucks(SBUX) and Dell(DELL) purchase the most green power of the Fortune 500 companies, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest quarterly list, released on Monday.

According to the release, Intel, which tops the national list, uses more than 1.4 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power annually. The semiconductor chip maker uses a variety of renewables to power its U.S. operations including biogas, biomass, geothermal, small-hydro, solar and wind.

Starbucks landed in the top five for the first time after more than doubling its annual green power purchases to more than 573 million kWh of renewable power.

The EPA's Green Power Partnership works with companies, governments and universities to minimize the environmental impact of electricity usage by promoting increased use of renewable sources. The rankings are based on green power from U.S.-based sources used solely for U.S. operations.

In a separate ranking of the top 20 green power purchasers in the retail sector, Kohl's, Whole Foods, Starbucks, Wal-Mart(WMT) and Staples(SPLS) nabbed the top five positions.

The Green Power Partnership currently works with roughly 1,300 organizations to minimize environmental damage by increasing the use of green power. According to the EPA, Green Power Partners currently use nearly 18 billion kWh of green power annually, which is the equivalent of avoiding carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of more than 1.5 million average American homes.

-- Written by Melinda Peer in New York.

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