Three large Massachusetts companies, Ahold USA of Quincy, Staples of Framingham and State Street of Boston, have been recognized by EPA as being among the nation’s top 50 purchasers of Green Power.

As part of EPA’s Green Power Partnership, more than 1,400 organizations are purchasing more than 26 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, avoiding carbon pollution equal to that created by the electricity use of more than 2.8 million American homes. The partnership provides quarterly updated lists of partners using green power in the following categories: K-12 schools, technology and telecommunications, local government, and retail, among others.

Ahold is an international group of supermarkets based in the United States and Europe. In the U.S., Ahold owns several local supermarket brands: Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Giant Food Stores and Martin’s Food Markets. It also owns Peapod, the largest online grocery delivery service in the country. Ahold USA currently uses over 149 million kWh of green power, composed of 148,700,000 kWh purchased Renewable Energy Credits, and 560,000 kWh of onsite solar generation, for a total of 7.3 percent of their total electric load. Ahold USA's green power purchase is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of more than 20,000 passenger vehicles per year, or the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of nearly 13,000 average American homes annually.

Staples currently purchases renewable energy certificates (RECs), but the company also purchases direct renewable power through various utility programs and hosts more than 30 on-site roof-top solar installations producing approximately 1.8 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity every year. Staples received a Green Power Leadership Award in 2006, was a Partner of the Year in 2004 and 2007, and is consistently included in the Green Power Partnership top partner lists, including the Top 20 Retail and National Top 50. Staples’ green power purchase of more than 636 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of more than 90,000 passenger vehicles per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power 60,000 average American homes every year.

State Street, as a part of its commitment to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, is meeting approximately 97 percent of its electricity demand from renewable resources. State Street works to fulfill its role as a good corporate citizen through the implementation of its Corporate Sustainability Program. As part of the program, State Street has set goals to lower GHG emissions and committed to purchasing certified renewable power. State Street's green power purchase has helped establish the corporation as a leader among U.S. financial services companies, and demonstrates its commitment to sustainability to all of its stakeholders around the world.

“These three Bay State companies, along with EPA’s other Green Power Purchasers, are driving the development of new renewable energy sources and demonstrating that green power makes good environmental and business sense,” said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “We applaud their efforts and hope that other organizations follow their lead.”

Green power is a subset of renewable energy and represents the renewable energy resources and technologies that provide the highest environmental benefit. EPA defines green power as electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.