Green College Spotlight: Amherst College

New England is home to a lot of impressively green colleges and universities. That makes for some healthy competition between schools, which we love, because it gets everybody fired up to do everything they can to improve. One example of a college that has been working hard at sustainability – and making tons of awesome achievements – is Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Amherst College has committed itself deeply to sustainability, viewing it as a core principle to guide its operations. They conserve and support sustainable use of natural resources through their policies, programs and practices, setting an example for responsible environmental stewardship. Amherst has a Green Campus Advisory Committee made up of mostly students, faculty and staff that helps identify areas where they can improve and plan ways to get it done.

Many of Amherst’s green programs and projects were started in 2008, so they’ve made lots of progress in a fairly short time. ABC covered some of the most notable ones last September, including the creation of a new cogen plant which captures heat and turns it into steam energy to cook, cool and heat.

From ABC:

“Using the fuel twice, once to spin the turbine to generate electricity, and then the waste heat from that to boil water for steam, is a very efficent way of using that energy of fuel,” explained Aaron Hayden, the campus Utilities Manager.

“We feel it’s very important for us to lead by example,” said Director of Facilities Jim Brassord. “When perspective students are looking at schools, I think they look to our lead and that we’re good global citizens.”

Amherst also purchases enough renewable energy credits to offset the emissions from student computer use, and some facilities have solar hot water systems. The Mayo-Smith House, a residence hall, gets 60% of its hot water heat from solar panels perched on the roof. And this is one school that isn’t trying to get brownie points by creating new LEED facilities: they go the even greener route, by adapting older existing buildings to comply with their High Performance Building Guidelines, which highly value energy efficiency and sustainability.

Locally grown products are a big attraction in the campus dining facilities, with about 10% of dining services food purchases, which include chicken, eggs, honey, and fresh produce, coming from local vendors. A comprehensive composting program ensures that nothing goes to waste, and all to-go materials are biodegradable. Amherst’s recycling program is also impressive, processing most materials including electronic waste.

Students, faculty and staff can get around on free buses and through car-share programs. The school has three hybrid vehicles in its fleet and all heavy trucks, ground vehicles and delivery trucks use biodiesel. Campus police use bikes and a zero-emissions vehicle.

Of course, there’s much more to Amherst’s green efforts. Check it all out at the Green Amherst website!

Link [Amherst College]

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