The United States Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that supports the organizational procurement of green power by offering expert advice, technical support, tools and resources. The EPA defines 'green power' as a subset of renewable energy and "represents those renewable energy resources and technologies that provide the highest environmental benefit", with electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources listed as types of green power.[1]
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Green Power Communities are defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as "towns, villages, cities, counties, or tribal governments in which the local government, businesses, and residents collectively buy green power in amounts that meet or exceed EPA's Green Power Community purchase requirements."[2] The EPA updates its Green Power Communities rankings on a quarterly basis with the most recent results of the top 15 communities from December 1, 2010 as follows:[3]
| Rank | Community | Annual green power usage (kWh) |
Green power as % of total elec. usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portland, OR | 675,638,189 | 8.9% |
| 2 | Santa Clara, CA | 163,113,900 | 5.8% |
| 3 | Gresham, OR | 125,843,124 | 11.5% |
| 4 | Bellingham, WA | 113,393,764 | 16.0% |
| 5 | Corvallis, OR | 100,297,648 | 14.7% |
| 6 | Beaverton, OR | 71,092,950 | 4.8% |
| 7 | Salem, OR | 63,769,464 | 4.0% |
| 8 | Palo Alto, CA | 56,950,971 | 5.7% |
| 9 | Bend, OR | 47,641,135 | 6.2% |
| 10 | Hillsboro, OR | 43,976,490 | 2.3% |
| 11 | Lake Oswego, OR | 34,915,000 | 8.8% |
| 12 | Park City, UT | 24,454,897 | 7.2% |
| 13 | River Falls, WI | 16,538,057 | 14.8% |
| 14 | Lacey, WA | 16,184,577 | 4.5% |
| 15 | Durango, CO | 12,758,000 | 11.0% |