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US's first wind powered Fortune 500 company: Whole Foods
by : Mike Burns
Date : Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:02:00 GMT
AUSTIN, Texas: Whole Foods Market Inc. has become the nation 's only Fortune 500 company to purchase wind energy credits equivalent to its total electricity need. lt;br / gt;
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The grocer 's effort was assisted by a Boulder-based renewable energy company Renewable Choice Energy which served as a broker for wind energy credits which it sells to buyers such as Whole Foods. Brokers like Renewable are required in such deals as it is not always physically possible to acquire the electrons generated by wind turbines. The power thus generated cannot be transmitted over long distances as would be required by Whole Foods ' stores – 7 in Colorado and 175 worldwide. lt;br / gt;
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In such deals, the buyer uses conventionally generated electricity as any other business, as would Whole Foods in this case, but this purchase of renewable energy credits reduces the load on sources for conventional energy because the credits are offset by the same amount of energy generated by wind turbines. The general power grid would be fed an equivalent amount of wind power which would be mixed with power generated by conventional sources, i.e. coal and natural gas-fired power stations and nuclear plants. lt;br / gt;
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In this particular deal Whole Foods purchase of 458,000 MW of renewable energy credits will help reduce pollution by over 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide that would have been generated by conventional power sources for the same amount of electricity. This reduction in CO2 pollution would be equivalent to taking 60,000 cars off the road. lt;br / gt;
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The grocer prides itself for demonstrating its “environmental leadership”. Industrial consumption of electricity is largely blamed for the air pollution in the US. In contrast, wind power is regarded as “a clean and renewable alternative” according to Kurt Johnson, director of Green Power Partnership a US environmental protection agency. lt;br / gt;
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The Austin-based grocery chain 's effort is seen as a significant step in reducing dependence on fossil fuels. The company was helped in selecting the right broker for the transaction by environmental thinktank World Resources Institute. The nonprofit organisation has been working with many other Fortune 500 companies persuading them to use more of renewable energy. lt;br / gt;
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Michael Besancon, regional president of Whole Foods said the purchase of wind energy credits would not exceed the group 's current utility budget.
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