Going Green isn't just for regular people taking out their recycling and using florescent bulbs any more.  Going Green in business is an increasing trend—and a fantastic one at that.

Have you ever driven by a large office building at night and marveled at the fact that lights on every floor are blazing?  It always makes me feel like my own paltry contributions to reducing emissions and my family's carbon footprint are just that—paltry.  How can we possibly hope to make a difference when we are so small and corporate America is so large?

Luckily some companies think this way too—but not nearly enough in our area. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a Green Power Partnership, which works with a wide variety of leading organizations—from Fortune 500 companies to local, state and federal governments, to colleges and universities.

The companies purchase Green Power.  These green power purchases help reduce the environmental impact of their electricity use and support the development of new renewable resources.  

According to the EPA, organizations can meet the purchase requirements using any combination of three different product options (1) Renewable Energy Certificates, (2) On-site generation, and (3) Utility green power products.

In this case, green power refers specifically to electricity generated from a subset of renewable resources, which may include wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and hydroelectric sources.  These electricity sources come from from natural resources that replenish themselves over short periods of time, including the wind, sun, organic plant and waste material (biomass), moving water  and the Earth's heat (geothermal).

The ranking of the top 20 companies nationally include many national chains or organizations that operate in our area, including Kohl's, Starbucks, US Air Force, Wal-Mart, Lockheed Martin and TD Bank.  You can see the top 50 here. 

Combined, the top 50 largest purchases amount to nearly 12.6 billion kilowatt-hours annually, which represents almost 70 percent of the green power commitments made by all of the EPA Green Power Partners.  But smaller businesses get involved too.

The complete list of EPA Green Power Partners includes 108 partners from the state of Maryland, but only 8 from Howard County, and sadly, only one from Ellicott City. 

Hi Ho Silver Company, located at 3732 Old Columbia Pike in Old Ellicott City, buys 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources;  quite an achievement considering some partners are only at about 50 percent green power.     

As disappointing as it is that only one Ellicott City business participates in this worthwhile program, I am confident we can do better.  If you own a business (Ellicott City-based or otherwise!) check out the Guide to Purchasing Green Power as well as the "Steps to becoming an EPA Green Power Partner." 

It's easier than you may think, and the EPA offers expert advice, technical support, tools and resources.  It's as easy as choosing an alternative outsourced power option through Baltimore Gas and Electric, which offers energy alternatives, then filling out a form for the EPA. 

In fact, many other business in our area may already be eligible for the EPA's Green Power Partnership…they may have simply neglected to fill out the proper paperwork to register their alternative energy choices. 

Partnering with EPA can "help your organization lower the transaction costs of buying green power, reduce its carbon footprint, and communicate its leadership to key stakeholders."  Buying green power can be one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your organization's environmental impact.

Consider this a small challenge with much bigger stakes, and get moving on doing something! The ranking are published quarterly.  It would be great to see more local business represented in the near future.