EPA honors Lockheed facilities for green power efforts

RP news wires, Noria Corporation
Tags: energy management

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Lockheed Martin for the company’s leading green power purchase and participation in the agency’s Green Power Partnership. Three Lockheed Martin facilities have been named in the agency’s Fortune 500 Green Power Challenge List, which recognizes corporations that reduce environmental impacts associated with electricity use.

Lockheed Martin’s Baltimore/Washington area facilities purchased more than 25 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy in 2007, which ties Lockheed Martin for 23rd on the list of corporations participating in the Green Power Challenge. The facilities include buildings located in Chantilly, Fairfax and Manassas, Va.; and Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Rockville and Middle River, Md.

According to the EPA, Lockheed Martin’s purchase is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of nearly 4,000 passenger vehicles per year or the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power nearly 3,000 average American homes annually.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities in Palo Alto, Calif., are collectively ranked 41st on the list. The facilities’ 2007 purchase of 1.8 million kWh of renewable energy represents about 10 percent of the site’s total power consumption.

Additionally, Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif., purchased 80,000 kWh of green power, also placing that facility on EPA’s list.

“This is an honor, and we’re proud to be recognized by the EPA,” said Bob Stevens, chairman, president and CEO. “Lockheed Martin is dedicated to finding responsible ways to ensure we are able to deliver the innovative solutions our customers require in ways that conserve natural resources and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. I’m proud to say that our continuous quest for improvement is making a difference.”

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with purchased electricity use. The Partnership currently has hundreds of Partner organizations voluntarily purchasing billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500 companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities. For additional information, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.

Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. These resources generate electricity with a net zero increase in carbon dioxide emissions, while offering a superior environmental profile compared to traditional power generation sources. Green power purchases also support the development of new renewable energy generation sources nationwide.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs approximately 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2007 sales of $41.9 billion.