The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that for the second straight year, Syracuse University has been named the Individual Conference Champion among Big East Conference schools for purchasing more green power than any other school in the conference. EPA has been tracking green power purchasing among collegiate athletic conferences through its College & University Green Power Challenge, which concluded today with 40 schools and 18 conferences participating nationwide.
EPA presented two categories of awards for its 2007-08 College & University Green Power Challenge: 1) individual conference champions, to recognize the school that has made the largest individual purchase of green power within a qualifying conference, and 2) collective conference champions, to recognize the conference, and its respective participating schools, whose collective green power purchase was the largest among all participating conferences. SU beat out its conference rivals by purchasing more than 22 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, representing 22 percent of the school's annual purchased electricity use. In this category, SU is the reigning champion, leading the Big East since the inception of this competition among collegiate athletic conferences.
SU is purchasing renewable energy credits from Suez Energy Resources NA, which helps to reduce the environmental impact associated with the campus's purchased electricity use. EPA estimates that SU's purchase of more than 22 million kWh of green power is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 2,000 average American homes each year. This purchase will have the impact of reducing the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions from more than 3,000 passenger cars annually.
"EPA applauds this year's College & University Green Power Conference Champions for their leadership in green power purchasing," says EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "By switching to green power sources, Syracuse University is proving that doing what's good for the environment is also good for education."
"Syracuse University continues to build on its leadership role in the area of sustainability and energy conservation and is proud to earn this Big East Conference honor for the second straight year," says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. "Consistent recognition from the EPA adds distinction to our leading efforts to create a more sustainable campus and community."
EPA will also extend the College & University Green Power Challenge for a third year, to conclude in spring 2009. EPA's Green Power Challenge is open to all U.S. colleges, universities and conferences. In order to qualify, a collegiate athletic conference must include at least one school that qualifies as a Green Power Partner and the conference must collectively meet EPA's minimum conference purchase requirement. For more information, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/initiatives/cu_challenge.htm
Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Green power is considered cleaner than conventional sources of electricity and has lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change. Purchases of green power help accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide.
For information on SU's sustainable practices and leadership, visit http://greenuniversecity.syr.edu
