EPA Recognizes Colleges and Universities in the Green Power Challenge

Washington, D.C. – For the third year in a row, the Ivy League wins the crown as the overall champion conference in EPA’s 2008-2009 College and University Green Power Challenge. Led by the University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League’s cumulative annual purchase of more than 225 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) has the equivalent environmental impact of avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of nearly 30,000 vehicles.

“Each year our college and university Green Power Partners raise the bar for clean, renewable energy use,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “By taking action on their campuses they’re helping to move our nation into a clean energy future.”

This year’s challenge included 44 competing institutions representing 22 different conferences nationwide. The challenge’s cumulative annual purchase of more than 1 billion kWh of green power has the equivalent environmental impact of avoiding the CO2 emissions of more than 136,000 vehicles. EPA also announced the kickoff of the 2009-2010 Green Power Challenge this week, which is scheduled to conclude in the spring of 2010.

EPA ranks collegiate athletic conferences by the total amount of green power bought by their member schools. To be eligible, each school in the conference has to qualify as an EPA Green Power partner and each conference has to collectively purchase at least 10 million kWh of green power.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with traditional fossil fuel-based electricity use. The partnership includes a diverse set of organizations including Fortune 500 companies, small and medium businesses, government institutions as well as a growing number of colleges and universities.