Apple, Google, Kaiser Permanente and Walmart powered by clean energy
Major businesses announce plans to buy enough solar and wind energy to cover half its electricity consumption
Healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente announced their plans to buy enough solar and wind energy to cover half its electricity consumption across all of its Californian facilities.
Many large organisations like Apple, Becton Dickinson, Google and Walmart are seeking to commit to a similar Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Kaiser Permanente is amongst these organisations. The healthcare provider commits to purchasing enough clean energy to power many Californian facilities.
According to Kaiser Permanente's chief energy officer, Ramé Hemstreet "The energy we use to run our medical centers and other buildings produces the majority of our greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing fossil fuels as an energy source with green power is the most important action we can take to address the impacts of climate change on health and to reduce pollutants that can lead to disease".
In relation to overall capacity, Kaiser’s initiative is in competition with Apple’s $848m solar PPA.
The PPAs include a 20 year contract to buy 110 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity from the NextEra Energy Resources installation in California as well as an agreement for 43MW of output from the replacement turbines, which utilises efficient technology, being installed at the Altamont Pass wind development in Alameda County.
Altogether, the site will generate up to 590 million kilowatts-hours (kWh) on an annual basis, which is enough to manage 82,000 American homes.
Generally, Kaiser Permanente uses approximately 1.5 billion kWh of electricity annually across 38 hospitals, more than 600 medical clinics and other facilities.
Kaiser’s commitment will nationally reduce carbon emissions by 30 per cent assisting the company to reach their goal three years prior than promised.
CEO of Renewables Choice Energy, Quayle Hodek said "Last year, the dam broke and there were at least double the deals announced. Companies are doing this because there are significant economic benefits".
Facebook’s long term ambitions is to source all of its power needs through clean energy by 2020 with short term goals of 25 per cent by the end of 2015.
