EPA Green Power Partnership
EPA Green Power Partnership
The Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership (GPP) has recognized the University of Iowa, at Iowa City, Iowa, as number 17 on its Top 20 On-site Generation list for its generation and use of renewable electricity.
The GPP’s quarterly Top Partner Rankings highlight organizations’ use of green power across various industry sectors. The UI was cited in the latest quarterly rankings for using biomass (oat hulls from Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids) to displace coal in one of its two solid fuel boilers, which significantly reduces its greenhouse gas emissions. The university's Main Power Plant cogenerated, per hour, nearly 9 million kilowatts of electricity from biomass-produced steam, which represented more than three percent of the electric power consumption on campus in 2010.
The UI became an EPA Green Power Partner in 2007 and has been in the Top 20 On-site Generation Partners list for four years. It is only one of two universities on the Top 20 list with University of Minnesota Morris at 20.
EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with a variety of organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, agencies at all levels of government, and a growing number of colleges, universities, and schools, to promote green power concepts. EPA defines green power as electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.
Using green power helps reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and supports the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide.
For more information about biomass fuels and renewable energy at the UI, visit http://www.facilities.uiowa.edu/uem/renewable-energy/.
