2008 Woodie Awards
Smith College goes green
Shalini Jayarama, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 12/3/08 Section: News
Northampton - Smith College goes green after significantly cutting its carbon footprint in recent months.
The greener campus is not only due to on-campus student groups that have raised awareness and consciousness about environmental conservation but also to the work of the Environmental Sustainability Committee.
Dano Weisbord, the director of the Sustainability Committee, said the school began the process of reducing its carbon footprint by assessing the sources of its carbon emissions. Weisbord said the committee used an emissions calculator designed specifically for college campuses provided by Clean Air Cool Planet, an organization devoted to curbing global warming. The calculator used a series of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into which data regarding heat, electricity and transportation expenditures were entered, and a final reading was determined.
Some five percent of the college's emissions come through the campus-wide transportation services, while the rest of the emissions are largely consequences of the campus's heating and cooling systems.
Smith's new co-generation plant contributed a great deal to the improvement of the college's carbon footprint. Before, heat and electricity were generated using separate sources of fuel. With the co-generation plant, the college uses energy resources to provide electricity and heat simultaneously. The co-generation plant has led to an emissions reduction between 20 and 30 percent.
"That's a huge, huge additional efficiency," said Weisbord. He added that the University of Massachusetts also has a co-generation plant coming.
Smith's goal is to reach carbon neutrality in the future. Carol T. Christ, Smith's president, has added Smith College to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment signatory list of 600 colleges, all of which have committed to reaching carbon neutrality.
The college does not yet have a date set for reaching the goal. Future endeavors include the completion of an inventory of green gases, which will be submitted to the Climate Commitment in January 2009. According to Weisbord, a climate action plan will discuss in detail how to go about working toward carbon neutrality and deadlines for it. The plan is expected to be out next year.
"The really important thing is to start reducing now," said Weisbord. "[That will make] more difference now than if we do it all at once right before the deadline [to achieve carbon neutrality]."
Shalini Jayarama can be reached at sjayaram@student.umass.edu.
The greener campus is not only due to on-campus student groups that have raised awareness and consciousness about environmental conservation but also to the work of the Environmental Sustainability Committee.
Dano Weisbord, the director of the Sustainability Committee, said the school began the process of reducing its carbon footprint by assessing the sources of its carbon emissions. Weisbord said the committee used an emissions calculator designed specifically for college campuses provided by Clean Air Cool Planet, an organization devoted to curbing global warming. The calculator used a series of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into which data regarding heat, electricity and transportation expenditures were entered, and a final reading was determined.
Some five percent of the college's emissions come through the campus-wide transportation services, while the rest of the emissions are largely consequences of the campus's heating and cooling systems.
Smith's new co-generation plant contributed a great deal to the improvement of the college's carbon footprint. Before, heat and electricity were generated using separate sources of fuel. With the co-generation plant, the college uses energy resources to provide electricity and heat simultaneously. The co-generation plant has led to an emissions reduction between 20 and 30 percent.
"That's a huge, huge additional efficiency," said Weisbord. He added that the University of Massachusetts also has a co-generation plant coming.
Smith's goal is to reach carbon neutrality in the future. Carol T. Christ, Smith's president, has added Smith College to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment signatory list of 600 colleges, all of which have committed to reaching carbon neutrality.
The college does not yet have a date set for reaching the goal. Future endeavors include the completion of an inventory of green gases, which will be submitted to the Climate Commitment in January 2009. According to Weisbord, a climate action plan will discuss in detail how to go about working toward carbon neutrality and deadlines for it. The plan is expected to be out next year.
"The really important thing is to start reducing now," said Weisbord. "[That will make] more difference now than if we do it all at once right before the deadline [to achieve carbon neutrality]."
Shalini Jayarama can be reached at sjayaram@student.umass.edu.
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