PolyCentric University News Center

California State University has announced that it appears on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of Top 10 college and university green power purchasers in EPA's Green Power Partnership. CSU is being recognized for its voluntary purchase of over 78 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 11 percent of the university's annual electricity usage.

The EPA released its updated Top 10 list ranking earlier this week, and the CSU was ranked fourth. The list highlights the EPA's green power partners that have completed the largest annual voluntary green power purchases through Dec. 31, 2006. The EPA's top partner lists are available at: https://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/top10ed.htm.

Green power includes electricity that is partially or entirely generated from clean resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. These types of energy are considered cleaner than conventional sources of electricity and produce lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change. Green power purchases are also especially valuable because they accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide.

“It is an honor to be on the EPA's list of Top 10 college and university green power purchasers in EPA's Green Power Partnership,” said Len Pettis, chief of plant, energy and utilities for the CSU system. “Purchasing green power is part of the CSU's overall energy and sustainability policy and underscores our commitment to reduce the impact of global warming, to help achieve our energy independence goals, and to provide diversity in our energy supply.”

Based on national average utility sub region emissions rates, the federal EPA estimates that CSU's purchase is equivalent to avoiding the CO2 emissions of more than 6,191 cars per year, or avoiding the equivalent CO2 emissions associated with more than 3.2 million gallons of gasoline annually.