Oregon Public Broadcasting

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released its list of the top 50 industrial purchasers of green power.   Coming in at  number one for praiseworthy power usage is   the chipmaker, Intel.

As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, the EPA says the list is important because itís a place where a companyís environmental claims can be checked and compared to its competitors.

Intel uses 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable power annually -- and the EPA estimates that’s the equivalent of getting rid of the carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 130,000 American homes.

Blaine Collison: "It's a pretty impressive piece of leadership."

Blaine Collison is with the EPA

Blaine Collison:  "If all of the other organizations in the Fortune 500 or the Fortune 1000 or the New York Stock exchange were to make similar commitments, just in terms of percentage -- that would be a tremendous stimulus to renewable energy generation here in the United States."

Collins says the EPA has been compiling a "green power" list since 2001 to encourage businesses to "out-green" each other.

Blaine Collison: "You can find lots of companies that are happy to say what great environmental citizens they are. It's very hard sometimes to find comparative apples to apples data. So we think that were accomplishing something there."

Intel gets about 46 percent of its electricity from sustainable sources by purchasing wind power and by buying renewable energy certificates. Those certificates  effectively help others receive sustainable power by paying the difference between market rate electricity and the cleaner source.

Company spokesman, Bill MacKenzie, says doing the right thing is simply good for business.

Bill MacKenzie: "Buying renewable energy to support the renewable market, and to raise the visibility of renewable energy not only works for us financially, but also works in terms of spreading the word."

Dell computers, which uses 158 percent renewable power  by buying extra renewable energy certificates, came in fourth -- basically because it uses less power than Intel.

Meanwhile, Oregon State University was 49th on the list of 50.

Three quarters of its power comes from biomass and wind. But again it doesn't use a great deal of electricity when compared to companies like Dell and Intel.