CT ranks as green power purchaser

Connecticut is one of only three states making the federal Environmental Protection Agency's top 50 list of national Green Power Partners, ranking 33rd.

This year, Connecticut will purchase more than 98 million kilowatt-hours of green power, enough to meet 17 percent of the state's purchased electricity use, according to the EPA.

Green power is electricity generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydro.

Connecticut's purchase of green power resources began with Gov. M. Jodi Rell's goal of increasing the percentage of clean, renewable energy consumed by state government from all sources to 20 percent by the year 2020.

"We are well on track to achieve the goal of obtaining 20 percent of the electricity used by the state of Connecticut from renewable sources by 2020," Rell said. "This demonstrates and validates Connecticut's leadership on energy and climate issues."

EPA estimates that the state's green power purchase of more than 98 million kilowatt-hours is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 13,000 passenger vehicles per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 9,000 average American homes.