Green Wombat

Pop quiz: What company is the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the United States? a. Toyota b. Whole Foods c. Wells Fargo d. Halliburton.

And the green smiley face goes to …. Wells Fargo. The banking goliath has purchased 550 million kilowatt hours of electricity generated from renewable sources, according to a quarterly list released Tuesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership program. Actually, Wells Fargo bought renewable energy certificates that will pay for 550 million kilowatt hours of wind energy, representing 42 percent of the bank’s electricity needs.

Green grocer Whole Foods came next, generating 463 million killowatt hours and 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewable energy sources like biomass, geothermal, small-hydro, solar and wind.

Given Whole Food’s alt corporate bent, that might not be too much of a shocker. But get this: The number one buyer of green energy in the nation are those hippies at the U.S. Airforce, which bought a billion kilowatt hours of electricity produced by biomass, geothermal and wind.

The EPA itself ranked No. 4, buying 100 percent of its electricity – representing about 330 million kilowatt hours – from renewable energy sources. The list of the top 25 green power buyers is here.