To all students, staff, and faculty
June 15, 2011
Background
The sustainability team was formed in 2007 when Goddard’s then president Marc Schulman signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. We conducted a carbon inventory, created a climate action plan, and began working to reduce emissions and to integrate sustainability into all aspects of college activities. The carbon inventory, climate action plan, resources for creating a carbon reduction plan, and previous progress reports are on http://gnet.goddard.edu/ under Goddard Community, College Planning, Sustainability. Our goal is to be carbon neutral in fuels burned on campus and electricity usage by 2020, with additional reductions in emissions from transportation. To keep the community informed of our progress and to invite participation, we have been sending a report every six months.
Biomass Heating Facility
The Board of Trustees has approved construction of a biomass heating facility that will heat the campus using locally sourced wood chips and waste wood, and has contracted with Community Biomass Systems of Montpelier to be the project manager. The boiler will be located off the upper parking lot, construction is planned to begin this summer, and the system will begin heating the campus in the winter of 2012 – 2013 by producing hot water for heat, showers, and cooking and piping it underground to the buildings.
We found in our carbon inventory that 93% of our campus based carbon emissions come from burning heating oil. Similar biomass projects at other colleges replace up to 90% of heating oil used each year. At Goddard, that would mean replacing about 56,000 gallons of heating oil and reducing emissions by 627 tons of CO2 per year. We will be able to measure our results as we start using the system. This will be a big step towards our goal of carbon neutrality by 2020.
There is additional information about our biomass project in the below attached article from the June 8 Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.
Energy Efficiency
We are continuing to increase the energy efficiency of our buildings by adding insulation and replacing windows. So far, we have completed retrofits in Dewey, King, Aiken, Kilpatrick, Giles, Flynn and the Manor, and the 2nd floor offices and part of the backstage area of the Community Center. Currently, we are insulating the hay barn, completing retrofits on Pratt dorm, and completely insulating the Clockhouse. Last year, retrofits enabled us to use 10 – 15% less heating oil.
Food Service
· IBA student Patricia Coughlin continues to supply the kitchen with organic vegetables and herbs from the Goddard vegetable garden with help from staff members Scott Blanchard, Dave Palmer, and Kelly Ross, and students at each residency. If you would like to help with the garden during residencies or throughout the growing season, please let us know by replying to this email. There are photos of last season’s garden and harvest at:http://goddardgreenhouse.blogspot.com/.
· The kitchen is purchasing some of its food from the Farm to Table program at Food Works in Montpelier as well as directly from local farms.
· We continue to participate in the Meat Free Mondays movement by making all meals served on Mondays meat free. For more information on the reasons for this, see: http://www.eatveg.com/realities.htm and http://www.meatfreemondays.com/index.cfm
· Staff member Dave Palmer composts all the kitchen food wastes, and the compost goes back into the Goddard garden or is sold.
Travel to Campus
There is information about public transportation options on www.goddard.edu under About Goddard, Directions; and there is a ride share board athttp://gnet.goddard.edu/ride_share.
Bikes
There are bikes available at the helpdesk for local riding during residencies.
Sustainability Listserv
The sustainability listserv begun in Spring 2008 to share news and resources about climate change and sustainability challenges and solutions now has 268 members. Articles are sent once a week. If you would like to be added, just reply to this email.
HOPE THE LINKS WORK
