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Spirit Lake, Iowa, Community School District on National List of Top 20 K-12 Schools Purchasing the Most Green Power

Release Date: 10/26/2009
Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov


Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., October 26, 2009) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that the Spirit Lake, Iowa, Community School District is listed among the agency's new Top 20 K-12 Schools List of the largest green power purchasers among all primary and secondary schools in the country.

Spirit Lake Community School District is No. 9 on the current Top 20 K-12 Schools List, a quarterly ranking by EPA's Green Power Partnership. The school district's annual on-site green power generation of nearly 2 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) is equivalent to avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 200 passenger vehicles per year, or the rough equivalent of the annual electrical needs of more than 100 average American homes.

EPA's Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,100 partner organizations to encourage the voluntarily purchase of green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. Those partners include a wide variety of leading organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, small and medium sized businesses; local, state and federal governments; and colleges and universities.

The Top 20 K-12 Schools List made its debut today, joining nine other Top Partner Lists that EPA will update on a quarterly basis for various classifications of Green Power Partnership members. Complete rankings are available online at www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top20k-12schools.htm.

Green power is generated from renewable resources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro. Green power sources produce electricity with an environmental profile superior to conventional power technologies and produce no human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Purchases of green power also help accelerate the development of a new renewable energy capacity nationwide.