The University of Iowa has moved up in the EPA’s Green Power Partner rankings and is now No. 2 in the Top 30 Colleges and Universities of the largest green power users. To achieve this ranking, Iowa uses nearly 300 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power annually, which represents 84 percent of its operations’ total electricity needs, up from 73 percent last year.  

Iowa also climbed rankings in the National Top 100 List, now ranked No. 52, up from No. 60, and placing it among companies like Johnson & Johnson, Dell Technologies, and Capital One. 

Iowa’s rankings on the EPA’s Top Power Partner Lists recognizes the university’s long history of innovation and achievement in developing and using alternative fuels to generate steam for heating and cooling campus buildings. This work has propelled Iowa toward meeting its Zero Coal by 2025 goal by exploring innovative biomass alternatives in its power plant like oat hulls, miscanthus grass, and energy pellets. The university’s commitment to green power provides energy security and creates economic value for the state by locally sourcing alternative fuels when possible.  Since 2020, UI’s energy delivery partner, ENGIE, has carried forward the important UI work of optimizing operations to enable the Power Plant boilers to utilize additional renewable fuels. 

The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that helps increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the American market for green power and development of those sources to reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated with electricity use. 

Learn more about the EPA's Green Power Partnership program at EPA.gov/GreenPower.