Green College Spotlight: Williams College

Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts is ramping up their efforts to be environmentally responsible, putting lots of new sustainability projects in place and challenging students, faculty and staff to reduce their energy consumption and help the entire campus go green. Williams College committed itself to sustainability in 2007, announcing a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

So far, they’re doing pretty well. The college’s emissions for 2007-2008 were 23% below 2006, thanks to efforts like switching to a hydro-generated electricity provider and conducting energy efficiency improvements in the central heating plant. Williams College has also installed a new solar hot water system on Fort Hoosac, a dormitory that houses 13 graduate students from the History of Art program. Solar panels are also in place at the Morley Science Center and the Library Offsite Shelving Facility.

Williams College has been lauded for their food and waste management efforts in particular, thanks to their emphasis on local, organic food and a comprehensive recycling program. The college spends about 12 percent of their annual food budget on products from local farms, including grass-fed beef and organic produce. They serve fair-trade coffee, use reusable dishware for outdoor picnics and offer only biodegradable to-go containers. The college composts food waste and keeps 20% of its waste stream from heading to the landfill.

LEED certification is being sought for all of Williams College’s current construction projects. When renovating and retrofitting buildings on campus, Williams College has incorporated green building practices.

Students are heavily involved in all sustainability efforts at Williams. Sustainability is built right into the student orientation, and and Zilkha Center hires Eco-Reps during the school year to work on green projects. Students also engage in dorm energy competitions.

On December 24th, 2008, Williams College began an experiment called ‘The Great Shutdown of ‘09’ to see how much money and energy they could save by turning off equipment and lowering the thermostat in campus buildings while students were away for the holidays. The results were quite impressive: they saved nearly $90,000 and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 287 metric tons, over 1% of their annual total.

All of these efforts earned Williams College a B+ on the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card. We’d like to see Williams College push that score up to an A for 2010 by focusing on their one weakness: transportation. Let’s get some more green transit programs in place, and you’ll really be getting somewhere!  Thanks, Williams College, for all your hard work – it’s clearly paying off.

Link [Williams College]

Massachusetts Considers a ‘Hummer Tax’

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced this week that he’s looking into creating a ‘Hummer tax’ – higher registration fees for gas-guzzling vehicles and discounts for those that do less harm to the environment. The proposal is part of the governor’s transportation plan, which will be unveiled in full today.

From Boston.com:

Environmentalists applauded the registration proposal, saying it would encourage people to buy smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, which are increasingly seen as key to curbing global warming. Similar proposals have been proposed in Massachusetts since at least 2001, but without the prominent backing of a sitting governor.

“The social costs of larger vehicles include not only the additional pollution, but also higher crash risks to other vehicles,” said Representative William Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat who is cosponsoring two bills in the Legislature that would penalize expensive and heavy cars with higher taxes or fees.

“Big gas guzzlers will pay more for their registration,” he added. “Plug-in hybrids would pay less and you’d have a range, that kind of thing.”

It’s about time, isn’t it? If you’re such an asshole that you think you’re totally entitled to drive a Hummer around your suburban neighborhood without being held responsible for the extra pollution you’re producing and the amount of fossil fuels you’re consuming, you deserve the extra fees. And, a Hummer tax might just prevent people from buying cars like these in the first place.

Link [Boston.com]

Photo credit: Flickr user blmurch