Over the past year, Bentley University has continued strong efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and exemplify its commitment to the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profits. As a result, Bentley received two accolades for its sustainability practices: inclusion in The Princeton Review’s list of top environmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada, and winning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014-2015 College & University Green Power Challenge for using more green power than any other school in the Northeast-10 Conference.
Princeton Review Guide to 353 Green Colleges
The Princeton Review, an education services company best known for its test prep programs and college rankings, ratings and guidebooks, profiles Bentley in the sixth annual edition of its free downloadable book, The Princeton Review’s Guide to 353 Green Colleges. The guide profiles colleges with the most exceptional commitments to sustainability based on their academic offerings and career preparation for students, campus policies, initiatives, and activities.
The Princeton Review chose the schools for this guide based on “Green Rating” scores that the company tallied in summer 2014 for 861 colleges using data from its 2013-2014 survey of school administrators. The ranking list was developed using data from its institutional survey for its Green Rating and its surveys of students attending the colleges. Data from the student survey included student ratings of how sustainability issues influenced their education and life on campus; administration and student support for environmental awareness and conservation efforts; and the visibility and impact of student environmental groups.
EPA’s Green Power Challenge
Since April 2006, EPA’s Green Power Partnership has tracked and recognized the collegiate athletic conferences with the highest combined green power purchases in the nation. The Individual Conference Champion Award recognizes the school that has made the largest individual purchase of green power within a qualifying conference.
Bentley University beat its conference rivals by using 25 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing 100 percent of the school’s annual electricity usage. Bentley University purchases renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Renewable Choice Energy, which demonstrates a proactive choice to switch away from traditional sources of electricity generation and support cleaner renewable energy alternative.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is a leading test preparation, tutoring, and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. The Princeton Review is headquartered in Natick, MA, and is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI). For more information, visit The Princeton Review on its web site and on its Facebook page.
About EPA’s Green Power Partnership
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that encourages organizations to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with electricity use. The Partnership currently has nearly 1,300 Partner organizations voluntarily using billions of kilowatt-hours of green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading organizations such as Fortune 500® companies, small and medium sized businesses, local, state, and federal governments, and colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower.
For more information about EPA’s College and University Green Power Challenge, visit the Challenge website at http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/initiatives/cu_challenge.htm