Cincinnati Receives EPA Green Power Community Of The Year Award

The City of Cincinnati announced today that it has received a 2013 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The annual awards recognize the country’s leading green power users for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation’s voluntary green power market.

EPA presented Cincinnati with the award at an event held in conjunction with the 2013 Renewable Energy Markets Conference in Austin, Texas on Sept. 23, 2013.

"EPA is pleased to recognize the Cincinnati, Ohio community with a Green Power Community of the Year award for its leadership and citizen engagement in dramatically increasing its use of green power," said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. "We applaud Cincinnati’s residents, businesses, and organizations for choosing green power that will help address climate change and support a clean energy future."

To celebrate the award, the City unveiled a Green Power Community sign at the Cincinnati Zoo, one of the largest green power producers in the region. Cincinnati was one of only two communities nationwide to receive a Leadership Award for using renewable energy in amounts that meet or exceed EPA requirements for residents’ and businesses’ collective green power use.

The Cincinnati community is currently using nearly 408 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 14 percent of the community’s purchased electricity use and is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of nearly 60,000 passenger vehicles per year.

The City of Cincinnati became the first Green Power Community in Ohio and surrounding states, through its Community Choice Aggregation program, through which residents and small businesses are enjoying lower electric prices and 100% green power. On June 17, 2013, the EPA ranked the City of Cincinnati as 6th in the nation in amount of green power purchased by the community.

"In the City of Cincinnati, we have been aggressively pursuing a wide range of strategies to combat climate change and shift to renewable energy," said Cincinnati Mayor Mark L. Mallory. "Our electric aggregation deal allows all of our citizens to receive 100 percent renewable energy."

This switch helped Cincinnati to become the first major city in the U.S. to choose a 100% "green" electricity supply.

Several cities are following Cincinnati’s lead on green power including the cities of Chicago and Cleveland. The Green Power Community Partnership has more the 1,400 partner organizations which range from Fortune500 companies, to small businesses, to local and state governments. The initiative recognizes those organizations which meet or exceed the EPA’s guidelines for green power usage.