City of Philadelphia – Green Power Purchasing

Philadelphia Municipal Energy Master Plan for the Built Environment

The plan outlines how City government will reach these goals by reducing energy use and cleaning the energy supply. Because energy plays an important role in climate change and disaster preparedness, the plan also informs City government’s climate mitigation and adaptation work. To read the plan visit here.

This plan provides City-owned buildings a roadmap for:

• Increased energy efficiency.
• Renewable energy generation.
• Energy resiliency in municipal buildings and the built environment in Philadelphia

The plan sets four goals for City government’s owned and operated built environment:

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030;
• Reduce energy use 20 percent by 2030;
• Generate or buy 100 percent of all electricity from renewable resources by 2030;
• Maintain or reduce the cost of energy at facilities.

History of Green Power Purchasing in Philadelphia

Philadelphia has committed to purchasing green power to supply 20% of the city’s electricity by 2015.* In doing so, the city is exceeding the Pennsylvania Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard, which requires 11.2% renewables and “alternative” energy resources by 2015. Philadelphia also has a goal of producing 57.7 megawatts (MW) of solar power by 2021, of which 3.8 MW is currently on-line. The city’s 2012 Greenworks Progress Report indicates that through the end of 2011, 12.2% of the electricity used in Philadelphia was sourced from alternative energy resources. The city is exploring a variety of complementary policies and programs to help achieve this goal, including solar power purchase agreements for public buildings, revised solar zoning and permitting guidelines, and an aggregate electricity purchasing program for local businesses (Philly Buying Power).

*In contrast to renewable energy purchasing goals of many local governments, Philadelphia’s initiative targets total electricity use within the city as opposed to only purchases made by the city itself. This distinction is significant because the city itself is already making alternative energy purchases equivalent to 20% of municipal government needs.