MIddlebury College Embraces Solar Power While Others Dither – CleanTechnica

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Colleges and universities may instill knowledge in their students (there is some debate about the veracity of that claim), but they are also voracious consumers of electrical and fossil fuel power to heat and cool their classrooms, libraries, laboratories, and administrative buildings. According to the US Department of Energy, the buildings sector contributed an estimated 35% of total US greenhouse gas emissions in 2021. That’s far more than emissions from transportation, which makes decarbonizing buildings vitally important, especially those that represent the physical footprint of America’s colleges and universities. That means using electricity whenever possible to replace heating and cooling equipment powered by fossil fuels. It also means sourcing that electricity from renewable energy alternatives such as wind and solar power.

Middlebury, Solar, & Energy 2028

Middlebury College in western Vermont is one of the leaders among American colleges and universities in doing precisely that. While other schools are lining up to suck money out of the pockets of oil and gas companies, and engage in endless debates about whether to divest from fossil fuel companies and whether they need to educate their students about global heating, Middlebury has designed a comprehensive policy entitled Energy 2028 to promote its climate ambitions at the deepest level  by helping its students “learn how to engage their communities, think consequentially, and act creatively at this crucial time for our environment.”

“What we do to achieve Energy 2028 and how we do it are as important as a successful arrival” the college says. “We can use this journey to transform our energy system and build resilience for taking on the challenges of climate change, social injustice, and supporting the health and well-being of all. We have an obligation to lead by example and to learn from and share our successes and mistakes with the communities and networks in which Middlebury is nested. Energy 2028 is a new journey on a continuum that Middlebury has been traveling to address the world’s greatest challenges and to better prepare us all to lead lives that are up to the task of our day.”

There’s a message here. If you want your children to be educated, send them to Middlebury College. If you want them to be brainwashed by messages paid for by fossil fuel companies, send them to that other New England college located in New Hampshire where one of the most prominent buildings on campus is the Irving Institute, founded by a principal owner of Irving Oil.

Solar & Energy Credits

On October 24, 2024, representatives from Middlebury College, Encore Renewable Energy, and Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company came together for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the activation of a 5 megawatt solar array that provides the College with 40% of its total electricity. The solar array is one of the largest in the state of Vermont, with 15,348 solar panels mounted on single axis trackers that follow the sun east to west throughout the day to efficiently provide renewable energy to the College.

“It has been a truly cooperative effort to make the solar array fully energized and ready to provide renewable clean energy to the College” said Middlebury College President Laurie L. Patton, noting that Middlebury’s students played an important role in bringing the project to fruition, through a collaboration in support of climate justice. The partnership allows the College to retain renewable energy credits and moves it closer to meeting the climate goals in its Energy 2028 initiative, which in part calls for the use of 100% renewable energy by the end of that year.

In a email announcement shared with CleanTechnica, Middlebury College said it has created an agreement with Encore and Green Mountain Power that allows the College to purchase credits for the energy created from the solar array in support of its goal to use 100% renewable energy. The energy produced comprises about 40% of the College’s needs for electricity. The other 60% comes from its biomass plant, other local solar energy sites, and Green Mountain Power’s grid, which is 100% carbon free and 68% renewable. Chad Farrell, founder and co-chief executive officer of Encore, added that the project is the first of its kind in Vermont, “bringing a new model of customer-driven, low-cost clean energy without negative economic impact to other ratepayers.”

The new solar farm is located about two miles from the Middlebury campus and was developed and constructed by Encore. It is now owned and operated by Greenbacker, an independent power producer and energy transition focused investment manager. “This solar power plant is one of the first in Vermont that actually tracks the sun from east to west allowing us to generate between 15 and 20 percent more energy, which provides a cheaper cost of electricity for Middlebury,” said Matt Murphy, chief operations officer of Greenbacker. Battery storage is also part of the project. South Street Storage, a battery energy storage system constructed next to the solar array, will provide the ability to store excess energy that might otherwise be lost in the middle of the day when electricity demand is lower and the sun is brightest.

Other Schools Embrace Renewable Energy

Middlebury is not the only college in the US pursuing clean energy. According to the Treasury Department, the University of California system has installed 55 megawatts of solar panels in over 100 projects and has a number of major energy initiatives announced and in service across ten campuses. These include a clean energy system replacing the methane-powered generating station at UC Berkeley and America’s first all electric medical center at UC Irvine.

Princeton University is building a large “geo-exchange” system with a ground source heat pump that will heat and cool its campus. The system uses hundreds of 850-foot deep bore holes and a 13-mile long network of distribution pipes to transfer heat and water around buildings. The system will save the school millions of dollars each year and regulate temperature for over 180 buildings.

Many of these initiatives are made possible by the significant incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed by Congress without one single Republican vote in 2022. The Treasury Department says, “The Inflation Reduction Act and its elective pay provision provide new and helpful incentives to improve the sustainability of college campuses. Beyond the climate benefits, colleges and universities will benefit from the potential cost savings of many clean energy projects. In the future, America’s colleges and universities will be largely powered by inexpensive, clean energy. The benefits of elective pay will be felt not only by students and staff on college campuses, but by all Americans, who stand to benefit from a cleaner climate.”

The Takeaway

Perhaps it is time for those applying to college to make a school’s climate ambitions a priority in deciding which schools they want to attend. There is no topic that is more crucial to the human race than global overheating. If enough young people stop applying to schools that continue to base their curriculums on courses that promote fossil fuel activities, those schools will have to alter their outlook in order to stay competitive. After all, colleges and universities are basically just large business corporations. Reduce their funding and see what happens to the warm embrace of fossil fuel money prevalent with most of them.