Kohl's Department Stores Achieves 100 Percent Green Power

Kohl's Department Stores announced that the company has purchased enough green power to meet 100 percent of its purchased electricity use with an annual green power purchase of nearly 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh).

According to officials, Kohl's increased its ranking to no. 2 overall and among Fortune 500 companies on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) listings of top green power purchasers. Kohl's retains its top ranking among retailers.

"Through our green power purchases, Kohl's is proud to support energy partners and programs that have a positive and lasting environmental impact," said Ken Bonning, Kohl's executive vice president of store planning and logistics. "We recognize the importance of encouraging environmentally smart energy practices, and we aim to set a positive example in how we operate our buildings and run our business. Starting 2010 at 100 percent green power helps reduce our carbon footprint and brings us another step closer to achieving our goal of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this year. We also continue to make energy management a priority and are pleased that our 400th location recently earned EPA's ENERGY STAR label."

According to the U.S. EPA, Kohl's Department Stores' green power purchase of 1,367,376,000 kWh is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 188,000 passenger vehicles per year or the amount of electricity needed to power nearly 128,000 average American homes annually. Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind and solar.

"EPA's Green Power Partners are raising the bar for clean, renewable energy use," said EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy. "By using green power, Kohl's Department Stores is doing its part to fight climate change and proving every day that sound environmental practices can also be economically sound."

Kohl's has been a member of EPA's Green Power Partnership since 2006 and was named a 2009 Green Power Partner of the Year. Kohl's was also honored in 2007 and 2008 with Green Power Leadership Awards for green power purchase and on-site generation. In addition, the company's green initiatives were recognized in 2009 with an EPA SmartWay Excellence award and a ranking of no. 1 in retail on Newsweek's Green Rankings.

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with purchased electricity use.

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