EPA Recognizes Duquesne Again as Atlantic 10 Top Green Power User

For the seventh consecutive year, Duquesne beat its Atlantic 10 conference rivals in green power usage to be named the 2013-2014 Individual Conference Champion by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its College & University Green Power Challenge.

The University utilized more than 18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 38 percent of the school’s annual electricity usage. Duquesne buys renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Direct Energy, which, according to the EPA, demonstrates a proactive choice to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner renewable energy alternatives.

Duquesne’s green power use of more than 18 million kWh is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the electricity use of nearly 2,000 average American homes annually, or the CO2 emissions of nearly 3,000 passenger vehicles per year.

“The EPA applauds Duquesne University as the Atlantic 10 Conference Champion for the seventh year in a row in the College and University Green Power Challenge,” said Mollie Lemon, program manager of the Green Power Partnership. “By choosing to use green power for close to 40 percent of the University’s electricity needs, Duquesne is cutting its carbon footprint and setting an example for others to follow.”

Since 2006, the 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 largest individual use of green power within a qualifying conference.

Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, eligible biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Using green power helps accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.

Thirty-three collegiate conferences and 79 schools competed in the 2013-2014 challenge, collectively using nearly 2.3 billion kWh of green power. The EPA’s Green Power Challenge is open to all U.S. colleges, universities and conferences.

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.