Evanston Named Among Top Green Power Users By EPA

EVANSTON, IL — The Environmental Protection Agency this week named Evanston among the largest users of sustainable energy among local governments nationwide. In a ranking of the top 30 users of green energy, Evanston was ranked 28th in annual usage, according to an announcement from the EPA's Green Power Partnership.

Evanston gets 79 percent of its power from green sources, amounting to nearly 17 million kilowatt-hours worth, according to annualized contract numbers cited by the EPA. Evanston's electricity comes from both solar and wind via on-site generation and MC Squared Energy Services – a provider of third-party certified green energy. Evanston also offers an electricity aggregation program allowing homes and businesses to opt-in to alternative energy sources.

Evanston was first named as part of the partnership in 2014. Since then, the city has been increasing the percentage of its power that comes from green sources, like rooftop solar panels at the water treatment plant.

According to the EPA, the top 30 local governments use a combined 4.3 billion kilowatt-hours of power every year, the equivalent to the electricity consumed by 400,000 average U.S. households.

Earlier this year, Mayor Steve Hagerty pledged that Evanston would remain committed to the goals of the Paris Climate Accord despite President Donald Trump's announcement he intended to pull the United States out of the agreement. He announced the creation of a 15-member working group to figure

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