WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its list of the nation’s top 25 greenest energy users and a company known for a brown-hued drink tops the list – PepsiCo.

PepsiCo announced Monday that it will purchase 1 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy credits over the next year. That’s equal to all the electricity used by all of PepsiCo’s U.S. facilities – enough electricity to power 90,000 average American homes for one year.

The purchase cost PepsiCo about $2 million – a huge sum for renewable energy. “It’s a big deal,” said Bill Wehrum, EPA’s top federal air pollution official, to USA Today. “They’ve vaulted to the top of the list.”

Each energy credit represents a subsidy to help produce one megawatt hour of renewable electricity, such as wind power. Producers of renewable energy rely on brokers to sell credits that drive demand for renewables and, thus, reduce emissions that would otherwise have been produced by burning fossil fuels.

“To the extent we motivate other companies to get involved is a good thing for America – and for the planet,” said Rob Schasel, director of energy, utilities and conservation at PepsiCo, to USA Today.

PepsiCo’s three-year deal is with Sterling Planet, retailer of renewable credits. Energy credits will be used for wind, biomass (i.e. tree trimmings and animal waste) or small hydroelectric projects, said Sterling CEO Mel Jones to USA Today.