The City of Houston announced today that it has received a 2017 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA’s annual Green Power Leadership Awards recognize America’s leading green power users for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market. EPA presented the City of Houston with a Green Power Partner of the Year Award at the 2017 Renewable Energy Markets Conference in New York, New York on October 23, 2017.
“Harvey and the storms of 2017 have shown the importance of building sustainable and resilient cities that can withstand our changing climate,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner. “We are proud the EPA has chosen to highlight Houston’s long history of investing in green power. Now more than ever, it is important that cities encourage the growth of renewable energy to reduce air pollution and lessen our carbon footprint.”
Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally-preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, eligible biomass, and low-impact hydro. Using green power helps accelerate the development of those sources in the United States and advance the American green power market.
The City of Houston was one of only two organizations nationwide to be chosen as a Green Power Partner of the Year. With this program, EPA recognizes Green Power Partners who distinguish themselves through their leadership, overall strategy, and impact on the green power market. Houston is currently using nearly 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is equivalent to the electricity use of more than 100,000 average American homes annually. By choosing green power, Houston is accelerating the transition to a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable energy future.
In addition, the City of Houston ranks as No. 8 on EPA’s National Top 100 list, and No. 1 on the Top 30 Local Government list. Each list highlights EPA Green Power Partners using the most renewable energy annually as of July 2017. EPA updates its Top Partner Rankings quarterly at www.epa.gov/greenpower/green-power-partnership-top-partner-rankings.
About the City of Houston, Texas
Mayor Turner is a co-chair of Climate Mayors, a group of over 300 mayors of cities from coast to coast working together to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to support efforts for binding federal and global-level policymaking. For 2017, nearly 90% of Houston’s energy comes from renewable sources – including the recent expansion of the City’s solar power purchase agreement – and Houston has reduced municipal greenhouse gas emission by 35% since 2007. In addition to Climate Mayors, Mayor Turner is a member of the C40 Alliance of Cities, the Carbon Disclosure Project, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy. For more information, visit www.greenhoustontx.gov.
About EPA’s Green Power Partnership
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that helps increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the American market for green power and development of those sources as a way to reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,400 Partners voluntarily using more than 43 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500® companies; small and medium sized businesses; local, state, and federal governments; and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
About the Green Power Leadership Awards
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) co-sponsors the annual Green Power Leadership Awards with the Center for Resource Solutions. EPA recognizes winners in the following awards categories: Green Power Partner of the Year; Sustained Excellence in Green Power; Direct Project Engagement; Excellence in Green Power Use; and Green Power Community of the Year. This program recognizes the exceptional achievement among EPA Green Power Partners who distinguish themselves through green power procurement, market leadership, overall green power strategy, and overall impact on the green power market. The ceremony takes place at the Renewable Energy Markets Conference. This year’s 19 recipients are using more than 13.4 billion kWh of green power—enough to power more than 1.2 million average American homes for a year. For additional information please visit www.epa.gov/greenpower/green-power-leadership-awards.