Sustainability at Dartmouth: Environmentalism in Deserto

Increasing awareness of the effect of greenhouse gases on the world climate, the depletion of resources, and the declining state of our overall environment have made sustainability a major focus of many academic institutions. The Green Report Card, provided by an independent group, assesses the sustainability efforts of hundreds of campuses and grades them across nine categories. These nine categories include policy and practices of sustainability in administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. Dartmouth College is a private institution with a population of 5,704 students on a 269-acre campus with high energy needs and funded by a $3,702 million endowment for the 2008 academic year (1). It is important to understand our energy report card and what is being done to reduce our carbon footprint and increase sustainability here at the College.

How Much Do We Consume & Where Does it Come From?
Two main systems provide the entire campus with the energy it needs: the steam distribution system and the electrical distribution system. In 1898, the College built a power plant that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Over 100 campus buildings are serviced by the power plant, which was originally constructed to mitigate the cost of heating buildings in the cold climate of New Hampshire. The steam distribution system, working at 20 psig, consists of a central 8 foot by 8 foot concrete tunnel system which holds all the necessary components to provide the cabling for the computer network, telephones, fire alarms, and power outlets for the College’s auxiliary buildings, in addition to producing the steam for the heating and cooling systems for campus. The electrical distribution system, a 4160-volt AC system that runs from beneath the Green in the center of campus, provides power to the main campus buildings. National Grid is the supplier of about 55 percent of the College’s yearly energy needs, routed from two 13.2/4.16 KV substations in Hanover. (2)

Every year, Dartmouth releases approximately 87,000 metric tons of carbon equivalents (MTCE) in greenhouse gases, based on a 2005 estimate. In 2007, total energy use was measured at 968.35 x 109 BTU, with #6 fuel oil contributing the most at 78 percent, non-#6 fuel at 11 percent, purchased electricity at 10 percent, and gasoline at 1 percent. Number 6 fuel oil is by far the most consumed fuel on campus, the main energy source for the college’s power plant, which co-generates electricity and steam from the burning of oil. Total energy use per degree day, which takes into account climate change in heating/cooling needs due to temperature differences from year to year, was measured at 144.94 x 106 BTU for 2007. There was a 4.23 percent increase in total energy consumption from 2006 to 2007, although energy per degree day decreased by 0.12 percent, indicating the heightened energy need was a result of more temperature extremes throughout the year. Electricity consumption also increased from 62,685 MWh in 2007 to 65,383 MWh in 2008, as well as gasoline consumption which increased from 82,802 gallons in 2006 to 101,611 gallons in 2007, a whopping 22.72 percent increase versus the 16.16 percent decrease in gasoline consumption from 2005 to 2006. Despite the College power plant’s capacity to generate electricity locally, the consumption of purchased electricity has increased at a rate much faster than the consumption of generated electricity, with more than two-thirds of the total electricity consumption in 2008 coming from purchased electricity. (3)

Where Does All The Trash Go?
In the spring of 1988, an Environment Studies 50 class led an effort to explore more sustainable methods of handling solid waste on campus. Since then, there have been several projects established to reduce solid waste generation and to provide more productive ways to dispose of solid waste through reuse and recycling. (2)

Image courtesy of Dartmouth Facilities Operations & Management. Dartmouth’s recycling record from 1990 to 2003.

The Dartmouth Recycles program, an effort to divert as much of the College’s waste from entering the local landfill as possible, was established in July of 1988. A report entitled “Reduce, Recycle, and Educate: A Solid Waste Management Program for Dartmouth College” based on research from early 1988 stated that 52 percent of the College’s waste could be recycled. The financial burden of increasing landfill fees were minimized by reducing waste through the Enviromug program and diverting newspaper waste to be recycled to create animal bedding, costing $45 per ton instead of $60 per ton landfill cost. Since these efforts, the diversion rate of waste from the landfill had been around 20-35 percent each year. In 1990, the rate was at 20 percent, and in 2004 the diversion rate was at 36 percent (see graph). (2)

In April 2002, a composting program began on Fullington Farm, led by the College’s Facilities Operation and Management (FO&M). Through this program, every year from April to November, approximately 16,000 cubic yards are collected to yield compost that has provided high-quality fertilizer for campus construction projects or to be sold to local landscape companies. Of this compost, approximately 2,400 cubic yards is comprised of sludge, 4,000 cubic yards of food waste, and 9,600 cubic yards of yard waste, paper waste, and saw dust. In the first spring of the program’s establishment, approximately 200-300 pounds of vegetable scraps from Dartmouth’s dining services were delivered to Fullington Farm daily, and 50,000 pounds of waste was composted in total. (2)

In 2004, Dartmouth College competed among seventeen top university recycling programs in the United States in an event called Recycle Mania. After 10 weeks of a campus-wide effort to increase recycling awareness and participation, the College ranked second in the competition, totaling 56.22 pounds of recycled material per student living on campus, falling behind only Miami University in Ohio who totaled 58.28 lbs/student (see graph) (2)

What is Being Done to Increase Sustainability?

On September 29, 2008, President James Wright announced a new set of initiatives to set a higher standard for sustainability at Dartmouth College. The main focus of this sustainability effort is to contribute to the global task of limiting our impact on climate change by reducing campus greenhouse gas emissions. President Wright’s plan sets milestones for reducing our emissions to sustainable levels through methods determined by the College’s Energy Task Force. These recommendations would lead to a 20 percent reduction from 2005 levels in emissions by 2015, a 25 percent reduction by 2020, and a 30 percent reduction by 2030. In order to reach these goals, a $12.5 million investment will be applied to energy efficient upgrades throughout campus, such as super-insulation and replacing obsolete equipment and technology, as voted for by the Dartmouth College Trustees. Many of these improvements will be focused on the 20 percent of campus buildings that consume 80 percent of the total campus energy. (4)

However, with the recent economic crisis in the last quarter of the fiscal year 2008, the College will suffer a $40 million budget cut over the next two years. Although the administration has affirmed that tenured and tenure-track faculty and financial aid will not be affected, all other areas of the college’s activities are susceptible to significant changes, the specifics of which will be decided by February 2009. (5)

The administration has also implemented other programs to reduce Dartmouth’s ecological footprint. Sustainable Dining has reduced disposable items and increasing composting and recycling efforts in campus dining facilities. Also, high performance building design and construction are being applied to new building projects, so that the best sustainable technologies are used to increase resource efficiency of these projects. (4)

The College’s Office of Sustainability is the main impetus of sustainability initiatives on campus. Programs such as the Big Green Bus and Carry Your Trash Week raise campus awareness about environmental conservation. The Sustainable Move In/Out is a program instituted in 2006 to collect unwanted appliances and clothing from students, reselling them the next term to raise money for sustainable projects, such as the Upper Valley United Way’s WARM fund, while the Carpool Facebook Application and Zimride programs are providing a more environmentally friendly option for student transportation. Student-driven organizations such as Green Greeks, Ecovores, and the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO) aim to increase sustainable projects throughout campus, from dorms to Greek organizations. September 2008 was the opening of the Sustainable Living Center, a residence facility in North Hall housing eighteen students determined at living a more sustainable lifestyle and promoting sustainable education throughout campus. (4)

How Does Our Progress Compare to Other Academic Institutions?

In the Sustainability Living Center’s first term of operation, 58 percent less electric energy was used in Fall 2008 in North Hall than previous residents during the fall term (see graph). This is a significant decrease, mostly driven by changing student habits, such as using a drying rack instead of a dryer and turning off lights when they are not necessary. Furthermore, in the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card, Dartmouth College was ranked one of the top 15 institutions in the country, receiving an “A-” on the green report card. In addition to being an overall college sustainability leader, Dartmouth is recognized as an endowment sustainability leader, receiving straight “A” grades for endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement in regards to environmental sustainability policies. Although Dartmouth is one of five Ivy League institutions to earn top marks on this report, many other institutions fare better in other rankings. (1)

The Future of Sustainability
With the looming budget cuts that will drastically effect the college’s spending practices, it seems that steps towards fulfilling President Wright’s sustainability initiative may be delayed or scrapped for the near future. For now, new construction plans have been put on hold, and other planned projects will certainly be held back as well. Perhaps new renovations and investments, such as the purchase of more efficient equipment or revamping the insulation of buildings may be put on hold for now, yet grassroots efforts towards sustainability will surely continue. The Sustainable Living Center will be entering its second term of operation, setting an example for what the rest of the campus community can be doing on a daily basis to reduce our energy needs.

References

1. The College Sustainability Report Card, Dartmouth College (2008). Available at http://www.greenreportcard.org/report-card-2009/schools/dartmouth-college (18 Dec. 2008).
2. Facilities Operations and Management, Dartmouth College (2008). Available at http://www.dartmouth.edu/fom/ (18 Dec. 2008).
3. Dartmouth College Energy Task Force, Office of Planning, Design, & Construction (2008). Available at http://www.dartmouth.edu/opdc/energy/index.html (18 Dec. 2008).
4. Dartmouth Sustainability Initiative (2008). Available at https://www.sustainability.dartmouth.edu/(18 Dec. 2008).
5. D. Klenotic, Welcome to Dartmouth Life: Alumni Council Gets into Thick of It in 197th Session (Dartmouth College Office of Alumni Relations) (2008) Available at http://alumni.dartmouth.edu/news.aspx?id=478 (18 Dec. 2008).