We’ve always known that our institutions of higher learning are home to some of our brightest citizens. Galvanize them with the prestige of an award and the thrill of competition, and it’s likely that the results won’t disappoint. Perhaps this is precisely what the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency reasoned when they began sponsoring competitions promoting innovations in and increased usage of renewable energy. During a time when our leaders’ energy plans are being criticized as compromised or watered-down, it’s up to individual states, companies and colleges to step it up.
Here are two examples:
The EPA recently released the names of the winners of their 2007-2008 College and University Green Power Challenge initiative, a challenge that compares and ranks the green power purchasing of institutions nationwide. Since the spring of 2007, the EPA has tracked the total energy purchasing of 40 schools representing 18 different collegiate athletic conferences. To be eligible, a school must qualify as an EPA Green Power Partner and each conference must purchase at least 10 million kWh of green power, which includes solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro power. The Ivy League conference took the lead, with a combined 221,583,300 kWh worth of green power, and the University of Pennsylvania was the overall champion, having bought 192,727,000 kWh. Colby College and Southern New Hampshire University both received top marks for buying 100 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources. No news on how much solar energy was used at any of the winning institutions, though.
The DOE-sponsored Solar Decathlon—which you may remember from a post this past October—is another noteworthy example. While there’s no 2008 Decathlon, keep your eyes peeled for the awe-inspiring solar houses to come out in 2009.
Do you spot your own school or alma mater on these lists? If so, how did it fare?
Connie, thanks for a little positive focus! It’s so easy to get distracted by the things that aren’t getting done that we can overlook the things that are working. I think it’s really important for universities to emphasize clean energy and new solutions–in addition to being a great move for the institutions themselves, it sends a message to students that this is a priority, and hopefully they’ll carry that with them after graduation. I went to Cornell, and I was quite surprised to see that they didn’t take part in the challenge.
Ithaca, NY is “ten square miles surrounded by reality,” as the bumper sticker says, and has long been a hotspot for alternative energy technologies (like the controversial but brilliant lake cooling project utilizing the deep waters of Cayuga Lake). There’s an “EcoVillage” in Ithaca that operates entirely off-grid. Cornell was in last year’s Solar Decathlon with a strong showing–and they had an agreement to sell the house to an alumna even before it was completed. So I wonder why they didn’t participate, and am a bit disappointed. Maybe they were told they would have to work hand in hand with the Harvard hockey team to publicize…