The Philadelphia Phillies are still trying to close out the World Series, but the team has already been declared winners off the field. The National League Champions were among the winners cited in the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards. The announcement was made at the the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference in Denver, Colo.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program helping to increase the use of green power among leading U.S. organizations. The program encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The EPA says the program has hundreds of partner organizations buying billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually.

According to the EPA, the Philadelphia Phillies are the first Major League Baseball team to join the Green Power Partnership. The baseball club buys 20 million kilowatt-hours annually from wind and biomass resources, enough to power 100 percent of the annual electricity use for Citizens Bank Park.

Here is the complete list of the 2008 EPA Green Power Purchaser Award winners:

On-Site Generation

• Kohl’s Department Stores
• Lundberg Family Farms

Green Power Purchasing

• City of Houston, Texas
• The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.
• ING
• Merritt 7 Venture, LLC
• Oregon State University
• PepsiCo, Inc.
• The Philadelphia Phillies
• Powdr Resorts
• U.S. Air Force

Green Power Partner of the Year

• Bellingham, Washington Community
• Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Intel Corporation
• University of Pennsylvania
• WhiteWave Foods Company

DOE Green Power Supplier Awards

New Green Power Program or Company

• AmerenUE

Small Residential/Commercial Green Power Program or Supplier of the Year

• City of Palo Alto Utilities

Large Commercial/Institutional Green Power Program or Supplier of the Year

• 3Degrees
• Sterling Planet

CRS Market Development Awards

Green Power Beacon Award

• Portland General Electric
• Honorable Mention: Detroit Edison

Green Power Pilot Award

• Energy Action Coalition
• Honorable Mention: Green Mountain Energy

Green Power Pioneer

• Dr. Jan Hamrin

Related link:

• The Green Power Network –  U.S. government web site provides green power market information

The 2008 Green Power Leadership Awards were presented in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference, held October 26-29 in Denver, Colorado.

New Green Power Program or Company

AmerenUE’s Pure Power program is the largest green pricing program offered in the Midwest to date. The program utilizes resources from Bluegrass Ridge, a Missouri Wind Farm, and Noble Hill, a Missouri landfill gas project. The Pure Power program was launched in October 2007 with a special celebration featuring a 131-foot wind turbine blade, an appearance by St. Louis Mayor and several Pure Power “early adopters.”

From the start, the company understood the importance of direct public outreach and education and has taken a grassroots approach, resulting in tremendous community response. So far, the AmerenUE Pure Power team has attended over 53 public events; 8 large corporate-sponsored events, such as Anheuser Busch Employee Earth Day and the Pfizer Green Celebration; and has presented to over 37 local organizations, including several local municipalities that have since signed on to the program. The company supports commercial customers that participate in the program, often by bringing educational presentations and booth displays directly to the customer’s site over lunch-time to educate employees.

In early 2008 the utility worked with the City of Plattsburg to establish the first EPA Green Power Community Challenge in the state of Missouri. The challenge provided a perfect opportunity to educate the public, and resulted in residential, business and government enrollments—including all 17 public buildings at 100 percent.