Palo Alto is the first city in California, and the fourth city in the country, to be certified as a Green Power Community by the EPA. Palo Alto qualified for this certification with a two percent green power purchase collectively as a community.

“The City’s efforts should serve as an example to other communities throughout California seeking to reduce air emissions associated with using electricity,” said Deborah Jordan, Director of the EPA’s Air Division in the Pacific Southwest Region.

Nearly 4,300 households and 130 businesses have enrolled in the PaloAltoGreen Program. Additionally, the City and the Regional Water Quality Control Plant operated by Palo Alto have committed to purchase renewable energy which results in a combined 912,000 kilowatt-hours annually of wind and solar energy for City facilities.

Green Power Communities are a new type of Partner for EPA’s Green Power Partnership program, providing assistance and recognition to cities and their organizations that demonstrate environmental leadership by choosing to purchase renewable energy.