Nowadays, many university applicants look at how environmentally responsible a school is before they decide whether they’d enroll.

Seirra Club ranks colleges and universities annually based on their planet-preserving efforts, including efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management and administration.

Many schools have taken all kinds of measures to be more eco-friendly and energy efficient.

For example, CU Boulder encourages students to use buses and bikes, and utilizes biofuels in its vehicles. Yale provides local and organic food in its dining hall. It also has a market garden that produces more than 300 varieties of fruits and veggies. Harvard is using moisture-sensing sprinklers to save water, CFLs to save electricity and solar panels to use clean renewable energy.

The first 10 universities on the honor roll of the 3rd annual ranking are:

1. University of Colorado at Boulder

2. University of Washington at Seattle

3. Middlebury College

4. University of Vermont

5. College of the Atlantic

6. Evergreen State College

7. University of California at Santa Cruz

8. University of California at Berkeley

9. University of California at Los Angeles

10. Oberlin College

To see the whole list and read more about the green steps the schools are taking, go to http://sierraclub.org/sierra/200909/coolschools/default.aspx