Philadelphia Suburb Takes 3rd Place in Green Power Competition

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

September 27, 2011 | 4:44 PM

The affluent Pennsylvania borough of Swarthmore, home to the elite Swarthmore College, has come in third in a nationwide competition to use the most “green power.” Thirty-four communities from across the country competed in the EPA’s year-long challenge. Swarthmore bought 27.9 percent of its electricity from green sources between September 2010, and August 2011. For the contest, “green” included solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydropower.
EPA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin said in a press release that it proves the borough is committed to improving public health.
“Borough citizens should be especially proud since residents and businesses who chose to buy green power over the past year helped earn this recognition,” said Garvin.
Brookeville, Maryland took first place with 45.7 percent of its electricity generated through green power sources. Washington, D.C. came in first for purchasing the most green energy overall at 772,324,379 kilowatt hours.