As more Americans get interested in sustainability and reducing their carbon footprints, future university students have started assessing prospective schools based not only on their academics and recreational offerings, but on how green they are. Universities have responded in a range of ways, with some schools striving for carbon neutrality, some creating sustainability strategies, and many fighting to come out as the clear eco-friendly choice. There’s even been enough eco-activity at universities that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started to rank them by renewable power purchases in 2006.

But now the quest for a greener school is starting to shift to an even younger demographic—the primary and secondary set—and the EPA has released their first ever list of the Top 20 Green Power Purchasers in the K-12 category.

In total, the EPA found that K-12 schools purchasing renewable energy are helping reduce to the equivalent of the carbon emissions from the electricity of 11,000 Americans homes in a year, and that Texas and New York are both home to multiple high ranking green schools. In fact, the Austin Independent School District ranked number one for their large purchases of biogas and wind energy (New York’s first appearance on the list is in the number three spot with the Rochester City School District). Click here to read more

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