Both Intel and Microsoft have a huge presence within the United States. In fact, Microsoft"s main headquarters in Redmond, WA is quite enormous in size, drawing heavy amounts of electricity to power all that happens on campus. Both Intel and Microsoft are heavy energy consumers, so the fact that both topped the Environmental Protection Agency"s top 100 green energy consumers list is impressive.
In the EPA"s most recent rankings, which were released today, Intel claimed the top spot with Microsoft taking second. Both companies managed to cover 100% of their energy consumed with green energy sources. Clean sources included: biogas, biomass, small-hydro, solar, and wind power. Intel recorded a total of 3,102,050,000 kWa used and Microsoft drew 2,488,172,313 kWh of power over the past three months; Microsoft reported that its CO2 emissions were equivalent to the emissions of 236,000 homes in America annually.
For those that are wondering, both Google and Apple also managed to reach the top 10 of the EPA"s quarterly rankings, coming in at #4 (32% green power consumed) and #6 (92% green power consumed), respectively. Compared to the same time last year, both Intel and Microsoft have maintained their positions in the EPA green energy rankings, with Google and Apple sliding down in the rankings. Interestingly, Google was the only company that did not increase its green energy consumption in the last year.
It"s great to see tech giants taking high rankings and reducing their pollution impact on the planet. To take things to the next level, we"ll need more concept projects like lamp charging making it into our own homes to reduce the general population"s energy draw.
Source: Environmental Protection Agency