EPA recognizes Rowan U as a 2007-08 Green Power Individual Conference Champion
April 30, 2008

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Rowan University as the 2007-2008 Individual Conference Champion for purchasing more green power than any other school in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. EPA has been tracking green power purchasing among collegiate athletic conferences through its College & University Green Power Challenge, which concluded April 28 with 40 schools and 18 conferences participating nationwide.

EPA presented two categories of awards for its 2007-2008 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

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

Rowan University beat out its conference rivals by purchasing more than 10 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, representing 25 percent of the school's annual purchased electricity use. Rowan University is purchasing renewable energy credits from Community Energy, which helps to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the campus' purchased electricity use.

EPA estimates that Rowan University's purchase of more than 10 million kilowatt-hours of green power is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power nearly 1,000 average American homes each year. This purchase will have the impact of reducing the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emissions from more than 1,000 passenger cars annually.

EPA also will extend the College & University Green Power Challenge for a third year, to conclude in spring of 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 carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change. Purchases of green power help accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide.

"We're grateful for the EPA's recognition of our environmental efforts," said Rowan's president, Dr. Donald Farish. "We remain committed to being good stewards, and we look forward to exploring further means of lessening our University's impact on the environment."

Rowan has received numerous awards for its environmental initiatives, including the following in 2007:

• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Governor's Environmental Excellence Award in the "Clean Air" for the University's steps to fight air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Office of Clean Energy New Jersey Clean Energy School of the Year award, recognizing the school for its efforts related to promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, including purchasing 25 percent of its electricity from wind power sources.
• The EPA Environmental Quality Award for placing third nationally in waste minimization in RecycleMania in 2006.
• The EPA Green Power Partnership Award for purchasing 25 percent of the electricity Rowan uses from wind-generated sources.
• The New Jersey Clean Energy Award for the clean energy the institution purchases.

About the U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership
EPA's Green Power Partnership encourages organizations to purchase green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity use. The Green Power Partnership currently has hundreds of partners voluntarily purchasing 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 trade associations, as well as 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 Web site at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/initiatives/cu_challenge.htm.