WASHINGTON

Purchases of green power help to prevent greenhouse gas emissions and also help accelerate the development of new renewable energy capacity across the United States.

To participate in the challenge, a local government must join EPA’s Green Power Partnership and use green power in amounts that meet the program’s purchase requirements. The local government must also conduct a campaign to encourage local businesses and residents to collectively buy or produce green power on-site in amounts that meet EPA requirements.

More than 30 cities and towns in Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin have become green power communities, and are collectively buying more than 900 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) from the electricity use of nearly 80,000 average American homes.

The campaign is designed to expand upon the successes of the program, aiming to double the total aggregate amount of green power used by EPA Green Power Communities. As part of the national campaign, communities will compete to see which one can use the most green power and which one can achieve the highest green power percentage of total electricity use. There will be a separate award for each category with national recognition and special attention from EPA. The winners will be announced in September 2011.

During the challenge, from Sept. 20, 2010, to Sept. 1, 2011, communities will be ranked for the two award categories on EPA’s website on a quarterly schedule; EPA will also provide technical assistance to help participants increase their green power usage.

Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydropower. Green power resources produce electricity with an environmental profile superior to conven tional power technologies, and produce no net increase of greenhouse gas emissions.

More information on EPA’s Green Power Community Challenge:http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/gpcchallenge

More information about EPA’s Green Power Communities:
http://epa.gov/greenpower/communities/index.htm

The Challenge is designed to help a school benchmark and better understand how big its carbon footprint is, how it compares to other schools and how much carbon is produced for each student it educates.

Zerofootprint, a leading organization in the global fight against climate change, announced the launch of the Challenge at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting in September.

The Zerofootprint Challenge will work collaboratively with school districts to provide students with easy-to-use software and social networking tools to measure carbon footprint information, provoke competition and discover a new culture of energy use. “Measurement and benchmarking are critical to any endeavor that seeks to create meaningful change,” said Dr. Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Zerofootprint. “Our goal is to make it easy, fun and meaningful for kids to tackle climate change and discover new ways to reduce their energy consumption. What is unique is our use of clear metrics for all phases of the program.”

According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, buildings represent 40% of the world’s environmental footprint. By targeting reduction efforts at schools, students around the world can take climate change into their own hands and make a real and meaningful difference to the global environmental footprint.

“As governments take action to make meaningful reductions in carbon emissions under their jurisdiction, they will naturally look to all public buildings for participation, including schools,” said Jill Buck, founder of Go Green Initiative. “What I appreciate most about the Zerofootprint Challenge is that it brings sophisticated carbon measurement software tools within easy grasp of any school. Any school can benefit from this program, and I hope every school will.”

When a school joins the Zerofootprint Challenge, it gains access to an easy-to-use online application that helps determine its current footprint and enables direct comparisons with other schools. In an active online forum, students can view results and share experiences on their progress. Teachers are provided with links to curriculum-based lesson plans and activities provided by Zerofootprint partners – organizations that are highly active in education for sustainable development.

Rick Hay, a teacher at Maurice Cody Public School in Toronto, has already committed to reducing his school’s footprint. “I’m excited about working with my school’s EcoTeam this year to reduce our carbon footprint. The Zerofootprint Challenge program, with its kid-friendly graphs and comparison charts, will help motivate us to reach a carbon impact goal of 120 kg per student, down from 155 kg.”

“Green Teams” organized by a teacher or principal at each school, will take charge of the Challenge by measuring their footprint via (the past year’s) heating, electricity and water bills. Once students set the baseline for last year’s emissions, the school challenges another school to join the competition in a “Race to Reduce.”

“The Zerofootprint Challenge will help schools on their path to EcoSchool’s platinum level certification by engaging students in a collective effort to reduce their environmental impact,” said Richard Christie, program coordinator of EcoSchools Toronto and early adopter of the Zerofootprint Challenge.

For tips and tricks to reduce your footprint, Zerofootprint has partnered with sponsors, including TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, and partners, including Eco Schools Toronto, Eco Schools USA, Go Green Initiative, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, The Climate Project Canada, EarthCARE and the Climate Change Connection, where students can access resources and research methods to reduce their impact.

Zerofootprint Challenge on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/zerochallenge

For more information, or to sign up for Zerofootprint Challenge, please visit: www.zerofootprintfoundation.org

About the Zerofootprint Foundation

The Zerofootprint Challenge is spearheaded by the Zerofootprint Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to apply technology, design and risk management to the massive reduction of our global environmental impact.