 "Photo: Eric Estes")
The contemporary environmental movement, both globally and at Vassar, often focuses on “going back to the source.” On our campus, we know that Campus Dining uses fresh local ingredients in their dishes, that our food and much of our dishware is compostable, and that dual-flush toilets have recently been installed in dorms and buildings. Some ways that Vassar has chosen environmentally sustainable practices are less visible, but they have nonetheless yielded exciting results and demonstrated ways for our community to continue to improve.
What could be more elemental than energy? It is almost impossible to appreciate how dependent we are on fossil fuels, but this very fact requires us to engage in processes of energy production and how they are implicated in our lives. Most of the big decisions and changes regarding energy use at Vassar happen behind the scenes, so it’s easy to feel disconnected from this essential commodity.
One’s overall carbon emissions are likely to be lower just by being a member of the Vassar community or living in the Hudson Valley because the electrical energy mix available happens to include more renewable and cleaner sources. According to Environmental Disclosure from Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation, the electricity grid that Vassar is connected to is one of the cleanest in the country—employing 19 percent coal-based energy; 16 percent gas; eight percent hydro (falling water from rivers or dams); 53 percent nuclear; four percent oil; and less than one percent biomass, solar, solid waste and wind. Each of these methods of harvesting energy has positive and negative byproducts. John Maserjian, Director of Media Relations at Central Hudson, explained to The Miscellany News, “We advocate for balance and diversity in the energy mix that would include renewable, nuclear and newer, more efficient fossil-fuel generators. Becoming overdependent on any one technology places the electric system at risk, and can create pricing escalations and volatility.”
Vassar buys electricity from Central Hudson, which, due to deregulation laws, purchases its energy from independently-owned generators. According to Maserjian, “The market does not indicate the source [of the electricity], which, along with price, varies from day to day.” So, while the individual consumer cannot choose the source of the electrons that they actually consume each day, they can choose an alternative power supplier (like a wind farm) which increases the overall percentage of renewable energy within the grid.
According to Assistant Vice President for Budget and Planning David English, the College has invested in wind power before, but the price became prohibitively expensive.
Electricity use comprises 40 percent of Vassar’s carbon emissions and is the only energy purchased as a utility at Vassar, rather than being generated on-site. About 50 percent of emissions are a result of burning fuel oil or natural gas in the on-site heating plant, and the final 10 percent are not generated by on-site demand, but are associated with the College, including student and faculty travel.
Efforts to reduce fossil-fuel emissions at Vassar have been ongoing and have recently been very successful. In the past four years, Vassar’s on-site fuel consumption has gone down by 25 percent, though consumption of electricity remains the same. According to Director of Facility Operations and Grounds Kiki Williams, this success is largely due to Buildings and Grounds’ implementation of technologies that increase infrastructure efficiency. Buildings and Grounds has also implemented efficiency projects such as lighting controls in the Library, Athletic and Fitness Center, and Walker Field House. Vassar’s central steam plant, which provides heating, operates at a high level of thermal efficiency, and the new Terrace Apartments and Town Houses utilize deep-well geothermal energy and ground-source heat pumps. Other improvements include the use of steam-eye technology to identify leaks in the steam trap and an aggressive, multi-year steam-line technology replacement project. The photovoltaic system on the College Center, a gift from the Class of 2007, generates 17 kilowatts of energy.
In a meeting on Dec. 4, Williams also discussed a very current proposal for a five-kilowatt solar panel system that would be installed on the Athletic and Fitness Center. She is working with Just Energy, an independent energy supplier that secures price-protected contracts, to obtain rebates from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Williams cited the need for additional funding as the major obstacle to getting the panels approved and running.
Professor of Earth Science and Sustainability Coordinator Jeff Walker is optimistic about reducing Vassar’s carbon footprint. “I think we’re almost more effective by making lots of small changes,” he offered. Instead of trying to focus on monumental investments, Walker suggested, “We can [change] things that we’re doing and [get] more and more people to understand that their actions do matter.”
Walker, along with the College Committee on Sustainability, has been drafting a long-term sustainability plan for the College. An important step has been working with the consulting firm Sightlines to assess the College’s carbon-emission levels on a regular basis. Sightlines will also help the College analyze past energy-use data to establish a year that can serve as a benchmark for future carbon-reduction goals.
The relationship between the process of decreasing emissions and securing the financial backing to do so is always in flux. Budgetary realities can often prevent new technology from being implemented, but sustainability and good financing can also go hand-in-hand. “Both from a sustainability point of view and a budget point of view, the less fossil fuel you need, the better it is for the footprint of the College and the budget,” explained English.
English offered a highly pragmatic approach to financing sustainability projects.
Environmentalism is so steeped in ideals that realizing the actuality of budgetary constraints can seem like utter defeat. English explained that certain investments, like retrofitting windows in old buildings such as Main, would never give worthwhile financial returns. Though they would prevent some energy loss, windows are expensive; the College simply can’t afford some of these measures, particularly in light of the current recession. “It’s hard to fund all the good ideas,” he admitted, speaking to the plethora of innovative yet expensive carbon-reduction options available.
The inherent difficulty in reducing emissions through expensive technological investments speaks to the essential need for the reduction of consumption at the level of the individual.
Williams spoke of a pilot project within the Buildings and Grounds building where all appliances were unplugged over Winter Break, saving 30 percent more energy. These are the types of individual actions Walker referenced when he advocated for education and awareness as the most effective way to reduce consumption.
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