From the GPP website, we learn that The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations ? from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments.
The Green Power Partnership works with a wide variety of leading organizations ? from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, and a growing number of colleges and universities. The following Top Partner Rankings highlight the annual green power purchases of leading organizations within the United States and across individual industry sectors.

These green power purchases help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide. Purchase amounts reflect U.S. operations only and are sourced from U.S.-based green power resources. Organizations can meet EPA purchase requirements using any combination of three different product options (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products.

Purchase figures are based on annualized Partner contract amounts (kilowatt-hours), not calendar year totals. These rankings are updated on a quarterly schedule. Find out how your organization can partner with EPA today! To view a top partner list, select from the chart below:

The Top 20 Retail list represents the largest purchasers among retail partners within the Green Power Partnership. The combined green power purchases of these organizations amounts to nearly 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours of green power annually, which is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 276,000 average American homes each year.
Annual Green Power Usage (kWh)

1. Kohl’s Department Stores
2. Whole Foods Market 3. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. / California and Texas Facilities
4. Starbucks
5. Staples
6. Lowe’s
7. Safeway Inc.
8. REI
9. H-E-B Grocery Company
10. The Est?e Lauder Companies Inc. / Operations
11. FedEx Office
12. Gander Mountain
13. Giant Eagle, Inc.
14. The North Face
15. Aveda Corporation
16. Office Depot
17. prAna
18. Half Price Books / Texas Facilities
19. Macy’s, Inc. / California and Hawaii Stores
20. Origins

SafeSourcing offers it congratulations to these companies that help to create a better environment for coming generations through their green efforts.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

This author believes that the single largest opportunity for impacting our environment is in making our buildings greener. This week, the U.S. Green Building Council hosts the world?s largest green building conference and expo, Greenbuild, coming to Phoenix, Ariz., Nov 11-13, 2009. If you are not attending and are interested in joining as a company or individual member please read on and visit the following links.

USGBC National Membership:

Employees of USGBC National member organizations earn major discounts on workshops, reference guides, Greenbuild registration, and LEED professional accreditation. Member organizations also receive decreased project registration and certification fees. The future of green building is shaped by USGBC members who join committees–the core of the consensus-based process that develops LEED, educational offerings, Greenbuild, and other programs. And of course, there?s the networking -? members-only events are held across the country in conjunction with many major conferences.

Individual Chapter Membership:

If you are an individual interested in promoting green building, or even if you work for a USGBC National Member company, Chapter membership allows you to get plugged-in with education, networking, and advocacy efforts that will enrich your neighborhood, city and region. Take it a step further by taking a volunteer leadership role in the chapter, or assist in developing education, information and outreach programs that are specific to your local industry and social community.

Please remember that certifying the products you buy and the buildings you build today as green can mean a better environment for our future generations which are also your future customers. Please include green building in your corporate CSR initiatives.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

According the United States Green Building Council or USGBC one of the largest potential impact areas on our environment is our buildings. In the United States buildings account for the following.

1. Seventy two percent (72%) of electricity consumption.
2. Thirty nine (39%) of energy usage.
3. Forty (40%) of raw material usage.
4. Thirty (30%) of waste output.
5. Fourteen (14%) of potable water consumption.

So the reason I continue to harp on green building initiatives is that if you only have enough resources to focus on one environmental area in your Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives (CSR), focus on green buildings. When you build new facilities whether they are stores, distribution centers warehouses or office buildings, build them to The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. When you buy products or services, buy them from suppliers that do the same thing. This is a very easy process to implement and to build score cards to support. Now ask yourself the question as to how many of your suppliers follow LEED guidelines. This can even apply if you or your suppliers rent all of their facilities. Do they rent from real estate management companies or individuals that going forward are applying LEED standards to all of their building projects. If the answers are no, find other suppliers that do.

Ask your procurement solution provider to provide you with a list of two or three suppliers for all of your categories that follow LEED guidelines. You?ll be helping to build a better tomorrow for our children and theirs.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

If you have been following our blog posts, you should remember that we have had many that focus on efforts you can undertake in making your business green. If you are just looking for a place to start, or are looking for additional ways to reduce your environmental impact or carbon footprint, here is one more suggestion.

It?s a safe bet that you are using laser printers at your business and they probably hum quite a bit during the work week. You may even have a thoughtful blue paper recycling container near the copier or even near every printer. You may even use recycled paper. The next step is a logical one; use environmentally friendly soy based ink for your laser printers.

In my opinion, the two best environmental reasons to use soy based ink are as follows. One, soy ink does not emit VOCs or volatile organic compounds. Two, soy ink is not petroleum based.

If you still need more reasons to switch? Assuming that you are already recycling paper, you will be glad to learn that soy based ink is said to make recycling the paper quicker and easier. Also, this option opens you up to new sources of supply. The next time you run a reverse auction for toner, you will have more options, greater price compression and another notch in your environmentally friendly tool belt.

Now you need to brag about it so that others can take their lead from you including your suppliers and customers. If you have implemented the full array of green printing mentioned in this blog, you have earned the right. Your customers will be happy to hear that you have made the right choices.

If you would like to learn more about environmentally friendly practices for your business, please visit www.SafeSourcing.com and check out our blog archives and our sourcing wiki. You will find much more information there.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

If you have been following our blog posts, you should remember that we have had many that focus on efforts you can undertake in making your business green. If you are just looking for a place to start, or are looking for additional ways to reduce your environmental impact or carbon footprint, here is one more suggestion.

It’s a safe bet that you are using laser printers at your business and they probably hum quite a bit during the work week. You may even have a thoughtful blue paper recycling container near the copier or even near every printer. You may even use recycled paper. The next step is a logical one; use environmentally friendly soy based ink for your laser printers.

In my opinion, the two best environmental reasons to use soy based ink are as follows. One, soy ink does not emit VOCs or volatile organic compounds. Two, soy ink is not petroleum based.

If you still need more reasons to switch? Assuming that you are already recycling paper, you will be glad to learn that soy based ink is said to make recycling the paper quicker and easier. Also, this option opens you up to new sources of supply. The next time you run a reverse auction for toner, you will have more options, greater price compression and another notch in your environmentally friendly tool belt.

Now you need to brag about it so that others can take their lead from you including your suppliers and customers. If you have implemented the full array of green printing mentioned in this blog, you have earned the right. Your customers will be happy to hear that you have made the right choices.

If you would like to learn more about environmentally friendly practices for your business, please visit www.SafeSourcing.com and check out our blog archives and our sourcing wiki. You will find much more information there.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.