Siemens Industry Inc.'s Building Technologies Division is
purchasing green power, a sustainability practice recognized and
supported through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA's) Green Power Partnership. To reduce its overall carbon
footprint, the company has been buying renewable energy
certificates (RECs) from Texas utility Reliant Energy since
2008. In the most recent fiscal year, the Building Technologies
Division has purchased more than 2.5 million kwh of green power
consumed by its Buffalo Grove, Ill., corporate campus, which
includes its manufacturing facility and suburban Chicago branch
office. These purchases account for nearly 8 percent of the
entire electricity consumption of all Building Technologies
Division facilities nationwide. The Green Power Partnership
works with a variety of organizations, from Fortune 500
companies to local, state, and federal governments, as well as
colleges and universities. According to the EPA, the these
organizations' green-power purchases help reduce th