Wells Fargo buys its way to top of green power chart

Wells Fargo & Company has become the largest corporate buyer of 'green' electricity in the US, according to rankings released by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week.

The San Francisco-based bank and insurance company is to buy renewable energy certificates to support 550,000 MWh of wind energy each year, for the next three years. This represents approximately 40% of its total electricity consumption. Providing the certificates is Californian renewable energy supplier 3 Phases Energy. The company did not disclose how much it spent on the green certificates.

"This purchase further demonstrates our company's commitment to both environmental stewardship and environmental leadership and it reflects the desire of our team members to do what's right for our customers, our communities, and our company," said John Stumpf, Wells Fargo president and chief operating officer.

In June, Wells Fargo announced it was part of a $120 million consortium which invested in a 125MW Texas wind farm. It has also provided $720 million in financing to develop energy efficient buildings. The company also implements various energy efficiency measures in its own buildings.

Topping the list of the EPA's Green Power Partnership, a group of organisations that voluntarily purchase green power, is the US Air Force, which is buying more than 1 million MWh annually from biomass, geothermal and wind energy sources. The EPA itself is ranked fourth, behind retailer Whole Foods Market.

Whole Foods, the biggest U.S. natural-foods grocer, bought 458,000 megawatt-hours earlier this year to offset all its power use. Companies increasingly are buying the clean-power credits to impress consumers and avoid criticism for failing to do anything about air pollution and global warming. Those that buy the credits must still purchase power for daily use from local utilities and power generators.

In total, the partnership buys more than 7 million MWh of renewable energy each year, an increase of nearly 240% since the end of 2004, the EPA said.

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