The Daily Pennsylvanian
The Red and Blue just keeps getting greener.
Penn has again been named the top university consumer of renewable energy in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
In its quarterly report released last week of the top 25 green-power-using organizations in the country, the EPA ranked Penn tied for 20th, higher than any other university.
The report cites Penn's 2003 investment in 40 million kilowatt-hours of wind energy annually -- 10 percent of the University's electricity needs -- as part of the basis for its ranking.
Michael Coleman, Penn's executive director of operations, said that the University's environmentally friendly energy efforts are now used as a model by other universities.
"I get numerous calls from different schools or student groups at schools asking how we got to where we were," said Coleman, who oversees Penn's renewable energy investments.
Penn Environmental Group co-Chairman and College junior Nishi Shah agrees that Penn has assumed an environmental leadership role.
"Penn is looked to not just by the EPA but by our peer institutions," Shah said.
All forms of electricity generated from environmentally renewable sources are considered in the EPA report. These sources include solar, wind, geothermal and biogas power.
The U.S. Air Force took the number one spot in the report, followed by Whole Foods Market.
"The University has been a hugely important player in the renewable energy field here in Pennsylvania," said Paul Copleman, Sales and Marketing Operations Manager for Community Energy Inc. of Wayne, Pa.
He referred to the University's renewable energy purchase in 2003, when it agreed to extend an existing wind energy contract with Community Energy Inc. into 2010.
Copleman said that Penn's investment -- which allowed for the construction of a new wind farm in the Pocono Mountains -- has helped the company expand.
The "type of commitment to wind energy that [Penn] made sets an example for other colleges and universities in the state and in the region," Copleman said.
In the meantime, Coleman said that the University will seek to maintain its position of leadership in the renewable energy community by continually looking at new opportunities for Penn to go green.
"We're looking at [future] options as we speak," Coleman said.
