Duquesne Named to EPA’s List of Top Green Power Users

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named Duquesne to its Top 30 College and University List of Green Power Users at No. 28.

The University earned this national recognition by using more than 18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 38 percent of its electricity use. According to the EPA, this number of kWhs is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity use of nearly 2,000 average American homes annually.

“Duquesne University is on the forefront of sustainability efforts and this ranking shows the commitment we have made with purchasing green power and doing our part in protecting the environment,” said Rod Dobish, executive director of facilities management.

Duquesne is buying renewable energy certificates from Direct Energy, which the EPA says demonstrates a proactive choice to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner, renewable energy alternatives.

The environmental stewardship and sustainability aspects of Duquesne’s mission take on added importance with more attention being paid to environmental concerns by the Catholic church, thanks to Pope Francis’ recent comments on climate change.

The EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to use green power, produced by solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, certain biomass and low-impact hydroelectric resources, as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. Nearly 1,300 partner organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to small-business, local, state and federal governments, and colleges and universities, voluntarily are using billions of kWh of green power annually.