U.S. EPA Awards America's Greenest Campus 2010 Clean Air Excellence Award

Russell Simmons, Obama Girl Helped Mobilize 20,000 Students at 460 Schools in 2009;

On-Campus Energy Efficiency Campaign Re-Launches in Fall 2010

WASHINGTON, May 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today awarded its prized Clean Air Excellence Award to America's Greenest Campus, the nation's largest and most successful on-campus energy efficiency campaign.

America's Greenest Campus is a partnership between SmartPower, the nation's leading non-profit marketers of clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency, and Efficiency 2.0, the premier online energy efficiency software company for utilities and governments, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy. Launched in April 2009, America's Greenest Campus quickly became the largest campus initiative of its kind. Over 20,000 students, faculty, and alumni at over 460 schools participated, cutting their collective carbon output by 19 million pounds.

The nationwide contest engaged college students through social media and on-campus organizing, encouraging participants to track their energy use and reduce their carbon footprints. Efficiency 2.0's Climate Culture, an innovative online platform, provided personalized energy saving recommendations, while SmartPower's targeted outreach – using Facebook, Twitter, viral videos, and celebrity endorsements (hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and Internet phenomenon Obama Girl were on board in 2009) – spread the message that saving energy is hip, smart, and vital.

The winners – the college with the greatest number of participants, and the college with the greatest per-person carbon reduction – were each awarded $5,000 for sustainability projects of their choosing. University of Maryland, College Park (with 2,257 participants) and Arizona's Rio Salado College (with 4.4% carbon reduced per person) were the victors in 2009.

Carbon output wasn't all that college students reduced during America's Greenest Campus. The results reflected $4.25 million in savings and significant energy/resource reductions across the board:

• 186,705 therms of gas
• 156,743 gallons of gasoline
• 154,838 tons of paper
• 28.41 million gallons of water
• 5,984 megawatt hours of electricity

America's Greenest Campus will re-launch in fall 2010.

The Clean Air Excellence Awards Program, established in 2000 at the recommendation of the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, annually recognizes and honors outstanding innovative efforts to help achieve cleaner air. Award-winning entries must directly or indirectly reduce pollutant emissions, demonstrate innovation, offer sustainable outcomes, and provide a model for others to follow.

SOURCE SmartPower