EPA Recognizes Allegheny College With a Green Power Leadership Award: One of Only 19 in Nation to Receive Award

MEADVILLE, Pa., Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Allegheny College has received a 2011 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The annual awards recognize the country's leading green power users for their commitment and contribution to helping advance the development of the nation's voluntary green power market.

EPA presented Allegheny College with the award at an event held in conjunction with the 2011 Renewable Energy Markets Conference in San Francisco on Nov. 16. College trustee Gary Elliott, vice president, global brand and marketing communications for Hewlett Packard, accepted the award on Allegheny's behalf.

The college was one of only 10 organizations nationwide—out of nearly 1,300 Green Power Partners—to receive a Leadership Award in the category of green power purchase. The award recognizes EPA Green Power Partners who distinguish themselves through purchases of green power from a utility green-pricing program, a competitive green marketer or a renewable energy certificate (REC) supplier.

Green power is electricity that is generated from environmentally preferable renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Purchases of green power help accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity nationwide and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.

Allegheny College is currently purchasing nearly 15 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which is enough green power to meet 100 percent of the college's electricity use. Allegheny is buying RECs from Constellation NewEnergy.

"Our agreement to purchase green e-certified wind energy for all of our power takes us halfway toward fulfilling the promise we made when we signed the Presidents' Climate Commitment in 2007," said David McInally, Allegheny's executive vice president and treasurer. "It represents a major step forward for Allegheny and supports our educational mission, operational efficiency and the college's new 10-year strategic plan."

The American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment is a national challenge to colleges and universities to develop a comprehensive action plan to reduce their global-warming emissions and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth's climate. Allegheny College was one of the first colleges to sign the commitment.

EPA joins other national organizations in recognizing Allegheny's achievements in sustainability. "The Princeton Review's Guide to 311 Green Colleges: 2011 Edition" features North American colleges and universities that infuse sustainable principles and practices into their academic programs, campus infrastructure, career preparation for students and other activities. The college was named an "Overall Sustainability Leader" in the College Sustainability Report Card 2011 from GreenReportCard.org.

In addition, last year the Sierra Club included Allegheny on a list of 100 "Cool Schools" for innovation in sustainability. The Sustainable Endowments Institute also featured the college in its recent "Greening the Bottom Line" report on institutions with revolving funds for projects with significant financial and environmental returns.

About Allegheny College
Allegheny College is a national liberal arts college where 2,100 students with unusual combinations of interests and talents excel. A selective residential college in Meadville, Pa., Allegheny is one of 40 colleges featured in Loren Pope's "Colleges That Change Lives" and is also featured in "Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College That Is Best for You" and Peterson's "Competitive Colleges, 400 Colleges That Attract the Best and the Brightest," among many other guidebooks. Allegheny College will celebrate its bicentennial in 2015.

SOURCE Allegheny College