Paper Company, California Cities Top "Green Power" List

July 27, 2009 3:49 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - One of America's major paper goods manufacturers and four California governmental agencies are among the top five groups in the United States using electricity they generate themselves from environmentally friends materials.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. led a list of the top 20 organizations powered by their own "green power" released Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA ranked the paper company at No. 1 because of the nearly 193 million kilowatt hours of energy used to run Kimberly-Clark's facility in Everett, WA, that is generated on-site from waste produced in making paper pulp. The generated electricity represents more than 7 percent of the electricity the company would otherwise have to purchase around the United States.

The Los Angeles County Sanitation District ranked second, with 171 million kilowatt hours, about 54 percent of the district's total energy use. The source of the district's green energy was biogas produced by sludge digesters and landfills. The gas is burned to create steam that runs electric turbines, a process used by several of the Top 20 companies.

The city of San Diego produced 69 million kilowatt hours, or 27 percent of the city's energy needs to rank third. A water pollution control plant operated jointly by the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara was fourth with 52.7 million kWh. That plant generates 56 percent of the city's needs.

Cement maker CalPortland came in fifth with 50 million kWh. The company makes 11 percent of its need from wind.

Collectively, the top 20 companies produced and used more than 736 million kWh of on-site green power, which the EPA said was equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power more than 61,000 homes.

Sources of green power also include solar, geothermal, biomass and low-impact hydropower.

The complete list can be seen at www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top20onsite.