Have Some Class: Colleges seek green cred, cheap electricity

Campuses across the country turn to renewable energy 3

"Leadership in sustainability could give [University of Florida] the edge it needs to be a Top 10 public university." That's the beginning of an article from UF's student paper The Alligator. Now read it again. (Just do it. Work with me, people!) Do you understand what that means? Let me spell it out for you: Sustainability = Mad Props. Really. That's what it says.

And apparently it's a growing trend; colleges are seeing green cred as an important factor in attracting students and getting high rankings from Those People Who Decide Which Colleges Are the Best and Which Ones Suck. And one way many schools are going for the green is by powering up renewable energy on their campuses. (Ha! "Powering up" ... you love it!)

Schools ranging in size from community colleges to major Ivy Leagues are moving toward renewable energy use (and gaining loads of green cred in the process):

  • Napa Valley College has installed Northern California's largest solar array to provide 40 percent of its power.
  • The Massachusetts Maritime Academy is erecting a wind turbine in hopes of cutting electric bills in half.
  • Yale plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent below 1990 levels (hello, DIY Kyoto!) by investing in energy conservation and alternative energy sources.
And these schools certainly are not alone. The EPA, as part of their Green Power Partnership program (PDF), has even begun compiling rankings of green powerhouses in the higher education sector. Unfortunately, the EPA's "Big Ten" are determined by purchasing power (in megawatt-hours) and not percentage -- thus the University of Pennsylvania's 40,000 MWh (10 percent of total energy use) beats out Western Washington University's 35,000 MWh powering 100 percent of the school's energy needs.

Here's the full list:

  1. University of Pennsylvania
  2. Western Washington University
  3. University of Utah
  4. Syracuse University
  5. Duke University
  6. Pennsylvania State University
  7. Harvard University
  8. The Evergreen State College (also 100 percent!)
  9. Oberlin College
  10. University of Buffalo
And those are just the top ten! Wo0t! Let's hear it for all-the-rest-of-the-schools-who-are-using-renewable-energy! GO BIG GREEN! OK, I swear I'm done with the cheering. (Can someone help me up from the splits?)

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  1. juliands Posted 6:51 am
    16 Mar 2006

    new report on campus sustainabilityGreat post Sarah!  AASHE - the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education - has just released a report that backs up what you are saying about sustainability becoming a growing trend on campus.  The report, AASHE Digest 2005, contains almost 250 stories about campuses leading the way to a sustainable future in everything from food to buildings to energy to curriculum. It is avalable for download at http://www.aashe.org/highlights/digest.php.
    Interested readers may also want to sign up for AASHE Bulletin, a weekly newsletter with news, resources, opportunities, and events related to campus sustainability.  It's a great way to find out what campuses are doing around sustainability and learn about new resources and opportunities.

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  2. zcaron Posted 10:45 pm
    16 Mar 2006

    Canadian Campuses coming up...The Sierra Youth Coalition (of Canada) runs an awesome Sustainable Campuses program -  with regional coordinators across the country working with students to make their campuses more sustainable.
    There are over 30 campuses involved in this initiative across the country, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and evaluating the sustainability of campus so they can create longterm change.
    Sierra Youth Coalition is also a part of a larger network across Canada & the USA called Energy Action.  www.energyaction.net
    This group has a large initiative called Campus Climate Challenge, focused directly on decreasing greenhouse gas emmissions on campus.
    _______
    It's great to be a part of a generation that "gets it".

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  3. organicqueso Posted 1:34 am
    17 Mar 2006

    Sustainability EffortsI would be interested to know statistics such as energy use per student and wind energy credits per student. It is important for leaders in the energy sector to recognize the tremendous strength that the fusion of energy conservation and sustainable energy hold.

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