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.

Partner of the Year

Cisco Systems, Inc. is a multinational company with annual revenues of more than $39.5 billion. Cisco is a worldwide leader in networking technology that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco believes that technology has the power to help the world manage its environmental challenges and is using networking technology to reduce its own environmental footprint. In June 2008, the organization announced a corporate global greenhouse gas reduction goal of 25 percent in absolute terms by 2012, sending a strong message that corporate growth and environmental protection can go hand in hand.

Cisco is using green power both in the United States and internationally as a strategy to meet its greenhouse gas reduction goal. The company’s annual purchase in the United States of 378 million kilowatt-hours of green power is supplied mainly from biomass, wind, solar and small hydro sources. Cisco’s purchase represents nearly 44 percent of its total annual electricity across its U.S. operations, and places the company among the largest buyers of green power on EPA’s National Top 50 list. To support the green power industry, Cisco buys from small and mid-sized suppliers. Cisco plans to increase its green power purchase by 22 million kilowatt-hours in 2009, including various on-site renewable electric systems for its facilities.