April 22, 2014
The Catholic University of America was recognized April 22 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a 2013-2014 Individual Conference Champion of the College & University Green Power Challenge for using more green power than any other school in the Landmark Conference.
Since April 2006, EPA's Green Power Partnership has tracked and recognized the collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power use in the nation. The Individual Conference Champion Award recognizes the school that has the greatest individual use of green power within a qualifying conference.
The Catholic University of America beat its conference rivals by using 43 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 100 percent of the school's annual electricity usage. The University buys a utility green power product from Hess Energy Marketing, thereby demonstrating a proactive choice to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner renewable energy alternatives.
According to the EPA, Catholic University's green power use of 43 million kWh is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of more than 4,000 average American homes annually, or the CO2 emissions of more than 6,000 passenger vehicles per year.
Thirty-three collegiate conferences and 79 schools competed in the 2013-2014 challenge, collectively using nearly 2.3 billion kWh of green power. EPA will extend the College & University Green Power Challenge for a ninth year, to conclude in spring of 2015. 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 use at least 10 million kWh of green power.
Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, eligible biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydro.
Catholic University has received the Individual Conference Champion Award for the Landmark Conference every year since 2009.
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The Catholic University of America , founded in 1887 by the U.S. Catholic bishops with the support of Pope Leo XIII, is the national University of the Catholic Church in the United States. The University is committed to supporting the creation of a sustainable environment on campus in its landscaping, grounds and facilities maintenance, construction, and renovation projects. Catholic University's close attention to environmental stewardship is grounded in its Catholic intellectual heritage and its faith.
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,200 Partner organizations voluntarily using billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500® companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower . For more information about EPA's College and University Green Power Challenge, visit the Challenge website at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/initiatives/cu_challenge.htm .