Austin ISD and Round Rock ISD rank second and third in the nation on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2012 list of green power users in K–12 schools.

Many school districts participate in the EPA's Green Power Partnership program, which encourages companies and organizations to use green energy. AISD contracts with Austin Energy and is part of its Green Choice program, which allows the district to use environmentally friendly energy sources, said Paul Turner, AISD executive director of facilities.

"It's part of the total amount of energy that we use every year, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 160 million kilowatt-hours," he said.