Intel lauded by EPA for "green" power use

Intel is giving itself a big green pat on the back after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave the firm a “Green Power leadership” award and made IBM "Green Power Partner of the Year".

Supposedly, the reward and recognition comes down to Intel’s purchase of $1.3 billion kWh of renewable energy certificates (REC) back in January, a move referred to by some as “buying your green credentials”.

As big as that number sounds, however, it is only enough power to meet approximately 47 per cent of Intel’s electricity use. Buying RECs, incidentally, also works out cheaper for IBM than choosing a new green technology for producing the firm’s huge appetite for power.

Still, at least Intel is taking small steps to show it cares, even if it doesn’t care quite as much as Google, which invests directly and heavily in renewable energy sources for its future.

Today, Intel capital announced yet another Solar power deal, this time with Trony Solar, to bring a bit of cleantech to China.

Intel boasts of having saved over $40 million through energy conservation at the firm’s operations since 2001 and Intel capital has sunk more than $100 million into solar energy this year alone.

The giant chip firm spun off PV cell manufacturer SpectraWatt back in June and ICAP channeled $35 million into German thin-film solar firm Sulfurcell and then also coughed up $12.5 million for Voltaix, maker of materials for semiconductor and solar cell manufacturing.

William Swope, VP of Intel’s corporate affairs group used the expensively-bought EPA publicity to tell the world Intel had a “long-term strategy to help make renewable energy more economically feasible and a realistic choice for individuals and corporations”.