The Big Ten this week took its place ahead of the Ivy League Conference.  The historic win, we're told, was attirbuted to a massive amp-up in defense. 

Environmental defense, that is.  

The Big Ten confernce has been named the top collegiate athletic conference in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)  2010-11 College and University Green Power Challenge.  The challenge encourages schools to use green power as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with traditional fossil fuel-based electricity use.

Collegiate athletic conferences are ranked by the total amount of green power used by their member schools. To be eligible, each school in the conference has to qualify as an EPA Green Power Partner and each conference has to collectively use at least 10 million kWh of green power. 

The Big Ten boasted an annual green power usage of more than 256 million kWh annually -- equivalent to the electricity use of more than 21,000 average American homes for one year, according to EPA data. The Ivy League, followed by the University Athletic Association, are in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively.

Although no local colleges or universities figured into the Big Ten's victory, several were recognized for having the largest individual green power purchase among all the schools in their conference.

The University of Maryland lead the Atlantic Coast Conference with 66 million kWh in purchases -- which will avoid an estimated 50,164 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 8,923 passenger vehicles per year -- and Georgetown University ranked No. 1 in the Big East Conference with 36.5 million kWh in purchases. American University took the lead among the Patriot League members with 54 million kWh and Catholic University took the top spot among Landmark Conference members with 43 million kWh.  

If you'd like to better understand the environmental impact of these green power purchases, you can estimate their environmental equivalency here.

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