Two Boston-area companies have been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as top 100 purchasers of green power.
Boston-based Saunders Hotel Group (SHG) and Quincy-based grocery giant Ahold USA have landed on the EPA’s list as two of over 1,300 organizations are purchasing billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually through the Green Power Partnership, avoiding carbon pollution equal to that created by the electricity use of more than 2.5 million American homes.
The SHG launched its environmental program in 1989 and has since implemented electric vehicle charging stations at all of their properties, an airport shuttle running on compressed natural gas, waste-saving amenity dispensers, LED roof signs and guestroom lighting, waterless urinals, high efficiency HVAC systems and a CoGen plant at their Comfort Inn & Suites in Revere. By 2014, SHG had increased its green power purchase to more than 6 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of Green-e certified, wind-sourced RECs for 100 percent of its electricity usage.
“Tackling climate change is the greatest challenge and opportunity of our generation. We are committed to doing our part to find solutions which will affect every business and family,” Tedd Saunders of SHG said in a statement.
Ahold has made a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint 20 percent by 2015 from its 2008 baseline as part of its “Responsible Retailing” vision towards sustainability. The company’s Joint Committee on Sustainability, which includes major suppliers for the company, meets quarterly to share best practices in sustainability, renewable energy procurement and energy conservation.
Ahold currently purchases over 149 million kWh of green power, and has 37 on-site solar systems, producing 8.9 million kWh per year, for a total of 8 percent of their total electric load across 770 grocery stores in the United States, including the Stop & Shop, Giant Food, GIANT Food Stores and MARTIN’S Food Markets brands.
Next year, Ahold will complete construction of an anaerobic digester in Massachusetts, which will take unsold, non-consumable organic waste from more than 200 stores and convert it to biogas to generate electricity and create a byproduct that will be used as a fertilizer. When completed, the facility will process 40,000 tons of organic product annually.
“Ahold USA and our retail divisions are committed to energy efficiency and environmental stewardship, with the goals to reduce our carbon footprint 20 percent by the end of this year and to achieve zero waste companywide by 2020,” Marissa Nelson, the company’s senior vice president of responsible retailing, said in a statement. “Thank you to the EPA for recognizing our efforts to build more efficient stores and implement resources that enable us to generate renewable energy. This is an important component of our commitment to being a better and greener neighbor to the communities where we operate.”
