United States companies Intel Corporation, Kohl’s Corporation and Whole Foods Market, Inc. are the world’s top users of renewable energy, a survey said.
Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine maker, commissioned the index done by Bloomberg New Energy Finance to look into the type and amount of renewable energy used by 1,000 of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.
Intel, the world’s biggest computer chip maker, bought 1,493 gigawatt-hours of electricity from renewable sources in 2010, the highest among companies surveyed in the Corporate Renewable Energy Index.
Though the figure represents 35 percent of Intel’s total electricity consumption, it did not bring the company to the top 20 ranking by percentage basis.
It was Kohl’s department store chain that ranked highest on a percentage basis, with slightly more than 100 percent of its electricity coming from renewable sources equal to 1,418 GWh.
Meanwhile, natural and organic foods retailer Whole Foods Market topped the ranking for using the largest amount of electricity from wind power, with all of its electricity coming from wind farms.
The three companies were the highest ranked among 176 companies that chose to disclose their energy usage for the survey.
Outside the United States, the leading renewable energy buyers were CLP Holdings, with subsidiaries in the electricity sector across Asia and Australia, with 953 GWh. Reinsurance giant Swiss Re also had 78.1 percent of its electricity coming from renewables in 2010.
Ditlev Engel, Vestas president and chief executive, said the survey was designed to increase transparency and help businesses and consumers make better purchasing and investment decisions.
More alternatives wanted
Alongside the poll, Vestas published an annual Global Consumer Wind Study with TNS Gallup, which surveyed 31,000 consumers in 26 countries.
Asked what sources of energy they were willing to see built in the coming five years, 86 percent of consumers worldwide preferred renewable energy. Six percent preferred electricity from nuclear energy and 4 percent from fossil fuels.
Regionally presented, 92 percent of Chinese consumers ranked renewable energy as a good solution to slow climate change, followed closely by Europe with 91 percent.
Seventy-one percent of people in the United States stated a preference for renewables as a means to mitigate climate change, the lowest regional ranking.
The survey noted that 53 percent of people in China viewed climate change as one of the greatest challenges mankind is facing. This compares with the United States with just seven percent.
Morten Albaek, senior vice president for group marketing and customer insight at Vestas, said the two reports complement each other.
«The first one from a consumer demand perspective, the latter details corporate energy usage, which will allow consumers and corporations to make informed decisions,» he said.
«Transparency in renewable energy will not only be good for society and future generations, it will be good for business.»
Earlier in June, Vestas helped launch a new labeling scheme called Windmade which allows manufacturing firms to carry a label on their products confirming that they were made using wind energy.
The TNS Gallup poll said 65 percent of respondents would prefer to buy products with WindMade.
