The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a 2012 Green Power Leadership Award for sustained excellence to Whole Foods Market, a food retailer, for purchasing 800 million kWh of renewable energy.
The annual EPA award honors purchasers of green power for their encouragement and commitment towards the voluntary green power market of the U.S. Earlier, Whole Foods Market had been awarded the Green Power Partner of the Year award for three years and the Green Power Purchasing awards for two years by the EPA.
Whole Foods Market has installed on-site solar arrays which enable it to generate around 258,000 kWh annually, which accounts for 107% of the total electricity consumption of the grocer.
In 2011, Whole Foods Market had achieved its goal of reducing refrigerant emission. For this, it had been honored by the EPA GreenChill Partnership with the Superior Achievement Award. Over the past four years, the grocer has won GreenChill awards. GreenChill collaborates with grocers to reduce their refrigerant emissions in order to lower their impact on climate change and the ozone layer.
In EPA's National Top 50 List the grocer is ranked fifth and in the EPA's Top 20 Retail List it is ranked third. The list contains partners who have completed their annual voluntary purchases by early July 2012.
Source: http://wholefoodsmarket.com/