Whole Foods moves to renewable energy
{{date|January 11, 2006}}
{{Wikinews Today short infobox}}
[[w:Whole Foods Market|Whole Foods Market]], a natural food grocery chain based in Austin, Texas, announced that it intends to use wind energy for all of its electrical needs.  This will make the company the largest business to use renewable energy in the United States.

"It's a sales driver rather than a cost," Michael Besancon, a regional president for the company, said. "All of those things we do related to our core values: help drive sales, help convince a customer to drive past three or four other supermarkets on the way to Whole Foods."

Since utility companies send power directly to the national utility grid, Whole Foods will purchase energy credits equivalent to 100% of the energy they use, a total of 458,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy credits per year from Renewable Choice Energy.  That's enough electricity to power 44,000 homes for a year.

=== Sources ===
{{source|url=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310AP_Whole_Foods_Energy.html
|title=Whole Foods commits to wind energy
|author=Steve Quinn
|pub=Seattle Post-Intelligencer
|date=January 10, 2006
}}

{{source|url=http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10791310/
|title=The Wind Beneath Whole Foods' Wings
|author=Alyce Lomax
|pub=MSNBC
|date=January 10, 2006
}}

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[[Category:Renewable energy]]
[[Category:Texas]]
Whole Foods Market, a natural food grocery chain based in Austin, Texas, announced that it intends to use wind energy for all of its electrical needs.  This will make the company the largest business to use renewable energy in the United States.

"It's a sales driver rather than a cost," Michael Besancon, a regional president for the company, said. "All of those things we do related to our core values: help drive sales, help convince a customer to drive past three or four other supermarkets on the way to Whole Foods."

Since utility companies send power directly to the national utility grid, Whole Foods will purchase energy credits equivalent to 100% of the energy they use, a total of 458,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy credits per year from Renewable Choice Energy.  That's enough electricity to power 44,000 homes for a year.
Renewable energy Texas