The University of Wisconsin-Madison has once again been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the Big Ten Conference schools that won the 2017-2018 Collective Conference Championship for using renewable energy.
The eight participating schools of the Big Ten used more renewable electricity in this period—more than 496 million kilowatt-hours (kWh)—than any other participating conference. UW-Madison used more than 72 million kWh of renewable electricity, representing 15 percent of annual campus electricity usage.
According to the EPA, 72 million kWh is equivalent to the electricity use of nearly 7,000 average American homes. This equates to a reduction of 53,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions of 11,500 passenger cars.
UW-Madison has participated in the College and University Green Power Challenge since the 2012-2013 academic year. The Big Ten Conference has taken top honors in the Collective Conference Championship since the university joined the challenge. This year’s challenge included 38 collegiate conferences and 109 schools.
The university buys renewable energy credits (RECs) and other renewable power products from Madison Gas & Electric, We Energies, WPPI Energy, and the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation.
About EPA’s Green Power Partnership
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to use renewable energy as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,400 Partner organizations voluntarily using more than 40 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable electricity 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 https://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
For more information about EPA’s College and University Green Power Challenge, visit https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/college-and-university-challenge.