By Dan FletcherThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern ranks seventh among national colleges and universities for renewable energy usage, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency.
NU was recognized for its purchase of renewable energy certificates from Midwestern wind farms to offset 20 percent of the university’s total energy consumption for the next four years.
“It’s very significant,” said Blaine Collison, a spokesman for the EPA. “Electricity is one of the largest environmental footprints. Making the shift towards clean, renewable power is something that needs to be done now.”
A renewable energy certificate is a tradable commodity separate from the electricity itself. Each certificate purchased acts as a subsidy to a renewable energy producer. This means that while NU may not consume the electricity it purchased directly, the university enabled its production for others.
The study said the certificates purchased represent 40 million kilowatt hours of green power. The reduction in carbon dioxide is the equivalent of taking 7,317 cars off the road or planting 9,586 acres of trees each year.
“If every school in the Big Ten was doing what Northwestern was doing, or every university in the country, or even every company in the Chicago area, that adds up to serious environmental change,” Collison said.
According to the study, NU’s contribution is nearly four times that of Yale and more than twice that of Harvard. It trails well behind New York University’s nearly 120 million kilowatt hours of green power purchased annually. NYU’s entire energy footprint is offset by its green certificates.
Tommy Sunderland, co-chair of Students for Ecological and Environmental Development, said his group wrote a bill in Associated Student Government two years ago to encourage the university to invest in renewable energy bonds.
“Other schools may have 100-percent ‘green energy,’ but they are typically smaller schools,” the Weinberg senior said. “Northwestern really is leading the way.”
Sunderland said he sees sustainability becoming a higher priority for both students and administration.
“We’re still lacking in some areas,” he said. “There still are sources of electricity around campus that don’t really need to be on all the time.”
In an interview with The Daily, University President Henry Bienen said the university will continue to improve its sustainability efforts.
“I’m open to constructive suggestions, how we can recycle better, how we could save money on energy,” Bienen said. “That’s both a good thing to do for the environment and a good thing to do for our budget.”
Reach Dan Fletcher at [email protected].
