Intel is ‘going green’ in a big way. The semiconductor giant said Monday it will purchase more than 1.3 billion kilowatt hours a year of renewable energy certificates, which will make Intel the largest corporate purchaser of green power in the U.S. Among the alternative energy technologies that will be supported by the program are wind, solar and biomass. ‘This is the single largest purchase of renewable certificates in the history of the program,’ said Intel spokesman Bill Calder. The certificates are a voluntary method used by corporations, universities, government agencies and others to promote renewable energy projects. Electrons produced at wind, biomass or solar power plants won’t go directly to Intel factories such as the company’s two Chandler complexes. But by purchasing certificates, Intel and other participants provide a market and a source of income for alternative energy producers, which supply their electricity to the general grid. As a result, the need to produce the equivalent amount of energy from polluting fossil fuel plants is eliminated. ‘When it goes to the grid, there is no way to tell where the energy came from,’ Calder said. ‘But there is a direct environmental benefit.’ Intel […]