Northwestern became one of the top five College and University Green Power Purchasers, up from seventh in January, in rankings released at the end of last month.

NU ranks second-highest in the Big Ten in the list released by the Environmental Protection Agency, following Ohio State University at No. 4. The agency ranks the top 30 green power users in higher education within the Green Power Partnership, a program that encourages organizations to use green power to reduce their environmental impact.

NU also moved up to 44th from 52nd in the National Top 100 list, which ranks all organizations participating in the partnership, including corporations, government agencies and retail companies. Nearly 1,300 organizations are using more than 28 billion kilowatt hours of green power annually as part of the partnership, equivalent to the energy use of nearly 3 million average U.S. homes.

NU purchased Renewable Energy Certificates equivalent to 50 percent of its total energy usage, an increase from 38 percent. NU purchases the certificates from 3Degrees, which offsets the University’s electricity use by generating and delivering wind energy into the power grid. NU also generates its own green power through a solar photovoltaic array on the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center, which generates enough power to sustain a computer lab within the building.

The Big Ten leads the Collective Conference rankings, consuming more than 375 million kilowatt hours of green energy.

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