Throughout the academic year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency monitored green power usage–electricity generated from renewable resources such as wind, solar or geothermal energy–at college campuses across the nation. The top purchasers were honored as “champions” by the agency as part of its College & University Green Power Challenge.

Lewis & Clark purchased more than 12 million kilowatt-hours of green energy this school year from Portland General Electric, according to the college’s website. The small Portland, Oregon, school’s green power purchase–more than any other school in the Northwest conference–represents 100 percent of its annual electricity usage.

Several other schools recognized in the challenge also purchased enough green energy to fully power their campuses, including Carnegie Mellon, Drexel University and Santa Clara University.

The University of Pennsylvania used more than 200 million kilowatt-hours of green energy, making it the top purchasing academic institution this year. However, the purchase accounts for just 48 percent of the university’s power usage.

Thirty collegiate conferences and 73 schools competed in the challenge, collectively purchasing more than 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours of green power.

Main photo credit: Flickr