Intel, PepsiCo and Whole Foods Market ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of top green power purchasers among the Fortune 500.

The EPA released its quarterly report this month on the companies, colleges and government agencies that purchase or generate the greatest amount of renewable energy in the country and participate in the Green Power Partnership program.

Intel, PepsiCo and Whole Foods also ranked first, second and third on the list of the 50 U.S. companies that purchase the most green power.

The annual purchases by the 50 top buyers total almost 12.3 billion kilowatt-hours and represent more than 70 percent of all the clean power commitments made by participants in the Green Power Partnership program, the EPA said.

PepsiCo, Whole Foods and Dell hold the first, second and third slots on the list of firms that get 100 percent of the power they use in the U.S. from renewable resources.

Whole Foods topped the list of retailers that purchase the most renewable energy. Kohl's Department Stores ranked second and Walmart came in third.

The Kimberly-Clark Corporation ranked first among the country's top 20 companies, government agencies and municipalities that generate their own green power. The Los Angeles County Sanitation District and the city of San Diego hold second and third place on the list respectively.

For other lists of major green power purchasers -- such as the Top 20 retail printers (FedEx Office, formerly FedEx Kinko's, is No. 1 on that list) -- all nine categories of the EPA's rankings for the program are available here.


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