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January 19, 2006
Whole Foods, FedEx Kinko's Snap up Renewable Energy Credits
by GreenBiz.com
Renewable energy credits continue to gain ground in North America as FedEx Kinko's and organic
supermarket chain Whole Foods Market each announce major new purchasing deals.
SocialFunds.com --
Renewable energy or green power is energy derived from any natural, non-fossil fuel resource that
continually reproduces itself over time. Renewable energy credits make nationwide renewable-power
transactions possible. For example, it is physically impossible to deliver electrons from a
particular wind farm directly to a business that occupies locations throughout the country.
Instead, when a wind farm produces electricity, renewable energy credits are issued to track the
exact amount of power created.
 Whole Foods (ticker: WFMI) will purchase renewable
energy credits from wind farms to offset 100 percent of the electricity used in all of its stores,
facilities, bake houses, distribution centers, regional offices, and national headquarters in the
United States and Canada. The renewable-energy commitment--the largest in the US and Canada to
date--makes Whole Foods the only Fortune 500 company to offset 100 percent of its electricity use
through wind energy credits.
"Whole Foods Market is a leader in the natural and organic
foods movement, and that involves caring about our communities and respecting our environment,"
said Michael Besancon, Whole Foods Market Southern Pacific regional president and Green Mission
task force leader. "Offsetting 100 percent of our electricity use with renewable, clean energy
strengthens our commitment to be a leader in environmental stewardship by helping to clean the air
and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels."
As of December 9, 2005, Whole Foods Market
is purchasing more than 458,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy credits from wind farms.
This purchase will avoid more than 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide pollution this year. To
have the same environmental impact, more than 60,000 cars would have to be taken off the road or
more than 90,000 acres of trees would have to be planted.
Meanwhile, FedEx Kinko's (FDX) announced new
renewable energy purchases at more than 100 locations nationwide, increasing its total green power
commitment by 67.5 percent to an estimated 40 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. The company
has expanded its renewable energy purchases in locations throughout the US, including ten in
Seattle, ten in Wisconsin, seven in Tennessee and one in Pasadena, California. The company now
buys renewable energy equal to approximately 14 percent of its total annual US electricity needs.
And 404--or more than 30 percent--of the company's US retail locations now purchase green power or
RECs.
"By increasing our green power use, FedEx Kinko's is helping to reduce the amount
of pollutants emitted into the environment," said John Gomez, FedEx Kinko's regional vice president
of operations in Southern California. "Renewable energy purchases reduce our environmental
footprint while helping to develop domestic energy sources that foster energy independence and
economic development in the communities we service."
FedEx Kinko's recently agreed to
purchase 10.8 million kWh of Green-e
certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) for 88 of its locations in Southern California. The
new purchase will provide 50 percent of the annual electricity consumption for those centers.
As a result of these new purchases, FedEx Kinko's now expects to avert more than 26,000 tons of
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions each year--equivalent to the power used by over 3,900 US households
in a 12-month period.
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