WWU lands on two national green-college rankings

Western Washington University was recently named to a pair of national green-college rankings based on its commitment to green building techniques, sustainability, and the use of alternative energy sources.

The Princeton Review’s annual “Guide to Green Colleges,” published in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, named WWU as one of the “greenest” universities in the nation, scoring a 93 on a scale from 60-99. Of the almost 700 universities and colleges that the Princeton Review collected data on, only those that scored in the top 20 percentile appear in the Guide. The guide is available for viewing online at https://www.princetonreview.com/greenguide.

Western also placed highly in the Environmental Protection Agency’s College & University Green Power Challenge, recognizing the largest single purchasers within each participating athletic conference; WWU won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with its 40 million kilowatt hours of green power purchases, placing it 7th nationally among conference champions and ahead of such other notable institutions and conference winners as Syracuse University and the University of Colorado. WWU purchases 100 percent of its power in the form of renewable energy credits from the Endeavor Wind Farm in Iowa; this is made possible by a “green fee” voted on and paid for by the student body. The EPA's College & University Green Power Challenge results are available at http://www3.epa.gov/greenpower/initiatives/cu_challenge.htm.

“Western’s students, faculty, and staff continue to provide nationally recognized leadership in the fields of sustainability, alternative energy, and green-building design,” said WWU President Bruce Shepard. “We will continue to push these initiatives forward as we grow the next generation of environmental stewards right here on this campus.”

For more information on these rankings or WWU’s sustainability and green-energy efforts, contact the WWU Office of University Communications at (360) 650-3350.