WIND CREDITS POWER WHOLE FOODS

MICHAEL GARRY

AUSTIN, Texas -Whole Foods Market here announced last week that it has purchased enough renewable energy credits from wind farms to offset 100% of the electricity used in all of its stores, bake houses, distribution centers, regional offices and national headquarters in the U.S. and Canada.

The purchase, accounting for 458,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy credits, is the "largest wind energy credit purchase in the history of the United States and Canada," the company said in a statement, adding that it is the only Fortune 500 company purchasing wind credits to offset 100% of its energy use. In a list of the Top 10 corporate purchasers of renewable energy credits, compiled by the World Resources Institute, Whole Foods is No. 1, followed by Johnson & Johnson and DuPont, with Safeway at No. 6.

Whole Foods, which operates 174 stores in 16 states, the District of Columbia and Canada, has been using the wind credits companywide since Dec. 9. "Offsetting 100% of our electricity use with renewable clean energy strengthens our commitment to be a leader in environmental stewardship by helping to clean the air and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels," said Michael Besancon, Whole Foods Market Southern Pacific regional president, in a statement.

According to Whole Foods, its purchase of wind energy credits will prevent the creation of more than 700 million pounds of carbon dioxide pollution this year, equivalent to taking 60,000 cars off the road.

Whole Foods is not using only wind energy, however, which cannot be directly converted by the retailer into electrical power. "They are using the same energy mix as everyone else, but they are making sure that it is being replaced by wind power" supplied to regional power grids by wind farms, said Quayle Hodek, chief executive officer, Renewable Choice Energy, Boulder, Colo., which sells the wind energy credits to Whole Foods. Wind power is "less than 10%" more expensive than more conventional sources such as coal, he said. Whole Foods has not divulged its expenditure on the program.

The process does not require Whole Foods to make any technological changes, Hodek said. "We handle the back end. It's so simple for supermarkets and it resonates with consumers, who see that you can choose to have electricity replaced with cleaner resources."

Hodek said that about 2% of electrical power in the U.S. is generated by renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, small hydroelectric and biomass.