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Environmental Contest Rewards America's Greenest College Campuses

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 06:30 CDT

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- America's Greenest Campus, the nationwide contest that challenged colleges to compete against each other in reducing their carbon footprints, has announced its winners: University of Maryland - College Park, the school with the most participants and Rio Salado College, the school with the most carbon reductions per participant. Each school will win a $5,000 cash prize towards green initiatives on campus. The University of Maryland had 2,257 participants. Rio Salado had over 524 students participating in the competition, with the average student reducing their CO2 emissions by 4.40%.

The first competition to measure the impact of everyday actions of campus community members, America's Greenest Campus began on March 31st, with support from its national spokesperson, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

Over 460 schools and 20,000 students, faculty and alumni participated in the contest, reducing nearly 19 million pounds of CO2 from the environment, saving 28 million gallons of water and conserving 4.5 million kilowatts of electricity.

"We are extremely proud that the University of Maryland won the America's Greenest Campus contest. Young people have the power to transform the world when it comes to energy and climate change and this competition was a great way of empowering our campus community to take action to reduce our carbon footprint," said student organizer Joanna Calabrese. "We mobilized over 2,000 students to get involved, and we know we can do even more. But this was a great start."

America's Greenest Campus is a partnership between SmartPower, the nation's leading clean energy and energy efficiency marketing organization, and Climate Culture, the premier online carbon measurement and reduction utility, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy and partnerships with leading youth environmental groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Student Coalition and the National Association of Environmental Law Societies.

"More than ever, young people are concerned about their impact on the environment and eager to improve their daily habits, and we created the America's Greenest Campus contest to provide a forum for that," said Tom Scaramellino, CEO of Efficiency 2.0, an energy efficiency startup that operates Climate Culture. "At 20,000 participants, this is the largest, most successful environmental contest ever among college students. We're so pleased with the results, we're gearing up for a second contest to take place in 2010."

The America's Greenest Campus contest also included the SmartPower Energy Smart Online Ad Challenge, which called for video submissions that promote the economic and environmental benefits of energy efficiency, for a $10,000 prize. The winning video will be announced December 5, 2009 and will be used in SmartPower's national advertising.

"Young people today are the largest wasters of energy in society, and through America's Greenest Campus, they are literally learning how to change their energy behavior," said Brian F. Keane, President of SmartPower. "Where they were once part of the climate problem -- now they are rapidly becoming a key part of the solution, learning how to conserve energy and change their behavior. They are leading the way -- and AGC is helping them get there!"

With their $5,000 winnings in hand, the University of Maryland will be providing support to their "Engaged University" program, a model community designed to influence the way the campus thinks about and engages in sustainable living and demonstrates the economic, social, and environmental benefits of long term sustainability.

Rio Salado, with their $5,000 prize money, will launch the Community Garden Project. In an effort to address the lack of community gardens in the Phoenix area, the Community Garden project is designed to stimulate opportunities for students and community members to learn about native and local foods, sustainable agriculture practices, and composting. The Community Garden project will also help to promote civic pride and healthy lifestyles, and help reduce municipal spending over time as the community learns sustainable practices.

About SmartPower

SmartPower is a national, nonprofit marketing organization committed to promoting clean energy and energy efficiency. SmartPower's mission is to build the clean energy marketplace by helping the American public become smarter about their energy use. In under a decade, SmartPower's award-winning marketing campaigns have been credited with creating unprecedented demand for wind, solar and hydropower. Today, SmartPower has become known as the nationwide "Got Milk" organization on clean energy. www.smartpower.org, www.letsgetenergysmart.com

About Climate Culture

Climate Culture is the first interactive and entertaining utility for reducing your impact on climate change. For the first time, you can receive accurate and personalized advice on the amount of money, carbon and other resources you expend and save from hundreds of lifestyle and purchasing decisions. Climate Culture licenses its Personal Energy Advisor software to electric and gas utilities, companies, universities and other organizations seeking to better engage stakeholders on energy use and climate change. For more, visit www.climateculture.com.

Media Contact: Larry Kopp, The TASC Group 646.723.4344 Larry(at)thetascgroup(dot)com Media Contact: Jason Mandell, LaunchSquad 415.625.8555 efficiency(at)launchsquad(dot)com

SOURCE SmartPower

Source: PR Newswire

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