Oklahoma State University ranked by EPA as top Green Power Partner

Thursday, January 29, 2015

For the second year in a row, Oklahoma State University has landed on the list of the nation’s top Green Power Partners compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

OSU is listed as No. 6 on the EPA’s Top 30 College and University list for green power use and No. 48 on the national Top 100 list of green power purchasers.

“Once again Oklahoma State is among those entities nationwide leading in the use of green power,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “We are very proud of the sound business decision the university has made to purchase and use clean sources of electricity and the positive impact it makes on our environment.”

According to the EPA, OSU’s Stillwater campus uses 100,360,039 kWh of green power annually, which is about 71 percent of its electricity needs.

The university entered into a 20-year agreement with Oklahoma Gas & Electric in late 2011 to provide wind power. The wind power is generated from the 26-turbine, 60 megawatt Cowboy Wind Farm near Blackwell, Okla.

In December OSU was one of only four organizations nationwide to be chosen by the EPA as a Green Power Partner of the Year for leadership, overall strategy and impact on the green power market. OSU was the only educational organization awardee across all categories.

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to buy green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has more than 1,300 Partner organizations voluntarily purchasing billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500® companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.