The Home Depot’s dedication to offering ecofriendly products to consumers has earned prestigious recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a trailblazer in sustainable stewardship.
The Green Power Leadership Award rewards companies that demonstrate a commitment to leadership within the green power marketplace. The Home Depot accepted this award on September 19th in a ceremony at the Renewable Energy Markets Conference. We are the only big-box store to be awarded this year.
Since 2001, the EPA’s Green Power Leadership Awards recognize companies and organizations that work to advance the cause of renewable energy with green power. Past recipients run the gamut from universities and municipal communities all the way to global companies like Google and Microsoft. It’s no secret that we take our commitment to stewardship of the earth seriously, and we have the credentials to prove it.
The Home Depot employs multiple forms of green power in our operations and in our stores. Earlier this year, we partnered with DSD Renewables to bring solar energy to 25 stores in California. Once operational, these projects will generate 13 MW of solar energy and expand Home Depot’s existing renewable and alternative energy portfolio, which includes 87 rooftop solar systems, over 200 electricity-generating fuel cells, and renewable energy purchases from utility-scale solar and wind farms. Despite the expansion of our store footprint, we continue to reduce the electricity demand needed to run our operations through energy efficiency investments like LED interior lighting, high-efficiency HVAC systems and optimization of operating procedures. These and other investments helped us reduce our U.S. store electricity use by approximately 3.8% year-over-year and 52% since 2010. We made a commitment to produce or procure 100% renewable electricity that’s equivalent to the electricity needs for all Home Depot facilities by 2030, and we’re well on our way to meeting that goal.
We also do our best to put green power in the hands of our customers. We offer multiple solar-powered products, ranging from outdoor lighting to solar cells that you can install at home. We’d like to thank the EPA for its recognition of our hard work, and we look forward to continuing our efforts.
