Customer Profile: The Kent Place School Makes Green Power Leadership List 

The Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey has reached top partner ranking on the EPA’s 2010 Green Power Leadership List!  As one of the top twenty in the K-12 category, Kent Place School purchased wind power provided by Community Energy.  The school’s annual green power usage reached 1,100,000 kWh, representing 69% of their total electricity use.  A portion (55,000 kWh) of this supply was generated from the Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm in Atlantic City, NJ, since promoting clean energy technologies in the state and making a difference locally was part of Kent Place School’s goal.

In 2009 KPS was nominated for the New Jersey Clean Energy Leadership Awards’ - Energy Educator of the Year. The Energy Educator Award recognizes a school, college or university for its efforts to improve the energy efficiency and use of renewable technologies in their facilities and for implementing specific programs and activities to include energy education and student involvement in their curricula.

KPS undertook a three phase project to renovate two existing campus buildings, and to construct a new 45,000 square foot Academic Center to house the Upper School division.  The new construction was built according to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. Consistent with the School’s focus on creating energy awareness and a positive learning environment , real time energy, gas and water consumption data  will be  available, tracked, and displayed through an interactive 42 inch “Green Touch screen” that was  installed in a area accessible to students, faculty and campus visitors. Kent Place School contracted with Community Energy Inc. (CEI) to purchase enough wind energy to offset 100% of the new academic center’s electric usage, as well as a large percentage of energy usage from existing buildings.

James Palmieri, Operations Manager commented: "The Kent Place School community is proud to help lead the way toward sustainable energy sources.  We recognize the importance and value of a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and are pleased that our day-to-day operations are now being powered by clean, renewable energy."

With no fuel costs and no pollution, wind energy technology is the fastest growing electric generation source worldwide.  Green power purchases help reduce the environmental impacts of electricity use and support the development of new renewable generation capacity nationwide.