Green-power rankings tout Central Texas

AUSITN (KXAN) - The Austin and Round Rock school districts rank first and second respectively and the Pflugerville district ranks twelfth in the country for purchasing the most renewable energy in the first ever green power rankings of schools by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The three school districts subscribe to Austin Energy’s GreenChoice renewable energy program.

Austin Energy served commercial customers also lead the nation for the largest number of businesses and institutions subscribing to renewable energy for 100 percent of their electricity needs.

The EPA lists 82 Austin Energy customers in its ranking of 540 companies nationwide - the largest number of 100 percent business subscribers for any utility green power program.

AISD uses 65.6 million kWh annually of green power representing about 39 percent of its energy use. That represents more renewable energy than purchased by all the other schools in the top 20 combined. The rest of the top 20 purchase about 48 million kWh annually.

Round Rock ISD uses about 17 million kWh of green power annually representing about 25 percent of its energy use. Pflugerville ISD uses almost 1 million kWh or 8 percent of its energy use. Austin area schools were the only schools in Texas listed in the EPA top 20.

AMD, Austin Energy’s largest commercial and overall green power subscriber at 73.6 million kWh, ranks 46th in the EPA's top 50 overall national ranking of green power users. Austin Energy subscribers, Whole Foods Market , Dell Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc. also are in the top 50 for green power used by all of their facilities in the U.S.

GreenChoice has been the number one green power program in the nation for sales every year since 2002, outperforming some 850 other utility sponsored programs. More than 85 percent of the 750 million kWh of green power sold annually by Austin Energy is purchased by commercial customers.