The Ohio State University was recognized as the 2017-18 Big Ten Champion of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Green Power Challenge for using more green power than any of its conference competitors.
Green power is zero-emissions electricity 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 users reduce their carbon footprints.
Ohio State beat its conference rivals by using nearly 106 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 18-percent of the school’s annual electricity use. 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, Ohio State's green power use of nearly 106 million kWh is equivalent to the electricity use of more than 10,000 average American homes annually.
The university is continuing its efforts toward meeting its strategic sustainability goals, one of which is aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
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.