ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized St. Mary’s College of Maryland as a Conference Champion in the 2017-18 College and University Green Power Challenge. St. Mary’s College currently uses more green power than any other school in the Capital Athletic Conference.
Since April 2006, EPA’s Green Power Partnership has tracked and recognized the collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power use within the program. The Conference Champion Award recognizes the school that uses the most green power in a qualifying conference.
St. Mary’s College beat its conference rivals by using more than 22 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 117 percent of the school’s annual electricity use. St. Mary’s College is procuring renewable energy certificates (RECs) from 3Degrees, and also generating green power from an on-site renewable energy system using solar resources. This commitment to green power demonstrates a sustainable choice that helps to reduce the negative health impacts of air emissions including those related to ozone, fine particles, acid rain, and regional haze.
According to the U.S. EPA, SMCM’s green power use of more than 22 million kWh is equivalent to the electricity use of more than 2,000 average American homes annually.
In the 2017-18 challenge, the 38 collegiate conferences and 109 schools competing collectively used nearly 3.6 billion kWh of green power. EPA’s Green Power Challenge is open to any collegiate athletic conference in the United States. To qualify, a collegiate athletic conference must include at least two schools that qualify as Green Power Partners, and the conference must collectively use at least 10 million kWh of green power. EPA will restart the 13th season of the College and University Green Power Challenge in fall 2018 and conclude it in spring 2019. For more information, visit: www.epa.gov/greenpower/college-and-university-challenge.
About St. Mary’s College of Maryland
St. Mary’s College of Maryland is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through 2024-2025. St. Mary’s College, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,600 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.
About EPA’s Green Power Partnership
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that helps increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the American market for green power and development of those sources as a way to reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,600 Partners voluntarily using more than 48 billion 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 www.epa.gov/greenpower.