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.

Green Power Beacon Award

In an innovative effort to bring business and residential renewable power customers together, Portland General Electric (PGE) created an online “green community” through the launch of their GreenPowerOregon.com web site.

The site is available to all PGE customers, with special content available only to renewable power customers. Several hundred customers are registered on the site, with more than 10,000 unique visitors to the site in the first couple of months after launch.

Local businesses have experienced a great response from the site’s online coupons, including lines out the door and 300 coupons redeemed from PGE’s site at one bakery.

There are several key interactive elements on the site, including an easy-to-use green power calculator that helps customers determine the environmental impact of their energy choices and how much it costs to sign up for renewable power. In addition, visitors can view maps of renewable power generation sites, habitat projects funded by the program, and discover which neighborhoods (by zip code) are leading the pack in the renewable revolution.

PGE runs one of the top ranked utility green pricing programs in the U.S., according to National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) 2007 rankings for sales of renewable energy to residential customers. Launching GreenPowerOregon.com is a groundbreaking way for PGE to go beyond corporate constraints and create an exciting, dynamic way to reach customers. It has created a two-way communication flow with customers and enhanced renewable energy sales and retention efforts.

Portland General Electric received a Green Power Leadership Award in 2006.