Hats off to DC, recognized for the second consecutive year as the top US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Green Power Community Challenge winner—for purchasing more green power annually than any other city! Local businesses, residents, and the DC government collectively purchased more than one billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, enough to meet more than 11% of the community’s total electricity use.
The Challenge is completely voluntary. It is a national competition between communities to use renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Throughout the Challenge, participating DC businesses, residents, and the local government committed to buy green power produced from a subset of renewable energy resources—wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydropower—in amounts that met or exceeded EPA’s purchase requirements.
The DC challenge came after Mayor Vincent Gray encouraged local businesses and residents to work together to boost the city’s overall green power purchases. As a major Challenge partner, the DowntownDC BID also encouraged businesses and buildings in the DowntownDC ecoDistrict to support this city effort to become one of the world’s most sustainable cities.
The BID joins the following Downtown organizations as Green Power Partners: the American Chemical Society (1155 16th Street); the Inter-American Development Bank (1300 New York Avenue), the Hyatt Regency Washington (400 New Jersey Avenue); the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church (900 Massachusetts Avenue); Rocket Bar (714 7th Street); Iron Horse Tap Room (507 7th Street); Georgetown University (600 New Jersey Avenue); and Saxbys Coffee (1000 Vermont Avenue and 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue). For a complete list of DC businesses that registered as partners, visit the EPA website.
If you missed the chance to participate as a Challenge partner, the EPA recently announced the competition will occur again over the next year. Both the city and the BID are encouraging local businesses and residents to go green. More information about the District Green Power Challenge is available at the District Department of the Environment (DDOE) website.