The City of Houston continues to electrify the country when it comes to the use of green power.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranks the city first among municipal entities for the highest annual consumption of power from renewable sources. The list features participants in the EPA's Green Energy Partnership.
The EPA pegs the City of Houston's annual use of green power at a little over 1 billion kilowatt-hours. That's enough electricity to power more than 94,000 average U.S. homes in a year's time. No other municipal entity uses more than 1 billion kilowatt-hours of green power per year.
The City of Houston has held the No. 1 spot on the municipal list since 2014. Among all users of green power in the U.S. that participate in the EPA's Green Energy Partnership, the city ranks 19th.
Since July 2020, all City of Houston facilities have been powered by 100 percent renewable energy derived from solar and wind sources. Houston-based NRG supplies the electricity for those facilities.
In an August 11 news release, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner says the EPA recognition is "great news for the city of Houston and, by extension, for the rest of the world. We are going big to set the example for cities around the world. If 100 percent renewable energy can happen in Houston, it can happen in any other city."
The news release points out that green power helps offset damage from ozone, acid rain, haze, fine particles, and other harmful pollutants. Fine particles come primarily from exhaust produced by vehicles, as well as from the burning of coal, wood, and heating oil, and from forest fires and grass fires.
The City of Houston isn't the only municipal outfit in Texas that shines on the EPA list. Here's are four others among the top 30 municipal users of green power:
- City of Dallas, ranked second, 701.8 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, ranked fifth, 450.2 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- City of Austin, ranked sixth, 325.3 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- City of Irving, ranked 30th, 24.9 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
Nationally, these five Texas businesses rank among the top corporate users of green power:
- Dallas-based AT&T, ranked seventh, 2.36 billion kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Irving-based Kimberly-Clark, ranked 18th, 1.03 billion kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Round Rock-based Dell, ranked 46th, 365.6 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Houston-based Solvay America, ranked 61st, 220 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Plano-based Cinemark USA, ranked 95th, 120.2 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
Two Texas schools appear on the list of the top colleges and universities for use of green power:
- University of North Texas in Denton, ranked 17th, 80.3 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Fort Worth-based Tarrant County College District, ranked 25th, 57.1 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
Four Texas institutions show up on the list of the top K-12 users of green power:
- Austin ISD, ranked second, 19.8 million kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- Lake Travis ISD (select schools), ranked 12th, 960,000 kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- The da Vinci School in Dallas, ranked 15th, 237,990 kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
- The Empower School in Austin, ranked 17th, 115,314 kilowatt-hours of green power used each year.
The EPA's ranking of the largest users of green power across the country "is proof that good business practices can also benefit the environment," says James Critchfield, director of the EPA's Green Power Partnership.
