Green chips at Intel

Intel looks set to become the USA’s single-largest corporate purchaser of green power after announcing plans to purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates.

Renewable energy certificates (REC) are proof that one megawatt-hour of electricity was generated from a renewable energy resource and are recognised as having credible and tangible environmental benefits.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Intel's REC purchase has the equivalent environmental impact of taking more than 185,000 passenger cars off the road each year, or avoiding the amount of electricity needed to power more than 130,000 average American homes annually.

Intel's REC purchase, which includes a portfolio of wind, solar, small hydro-electric and biomass sources, will be handled by Sterling Planet, a supplier of renewable energy, energy efficiency and low-carbon solutions. The purchase will be certified by the non-profit Center for Resource Solutions' Green-e program, which certifies and verifies green power products.

‘Our renewable purchase is just one part of a multi-faceted approach to protect the environment, and one that we hope spurs additional development and demand for renewable energy,’ said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini.