Environmental Science & Policy Program

By Changxin Fang (‘05)

A recent study by Community Energy, Inc determined that replacing 20% of Smith’s electricity usage with renewable energy would reduce the College’s greenhouse gas emissions by 13,236,865 pounds of CO2, 65,788 pounds of SO2, and 25,874 pounds of NO2. To put this in context, just the theoretical amount of CO2 this would displace is equivalent to planting 900,467 trees, driving 9,265,806 miles, or taking 737 cars off the road.

This semester, students have taken the initiative to generate interest in renewable energy on campus. With the support of MassPIRG and Gaia, students have formed the Clean Energy for Smith campaign, which works on educating and advocating for renewable energy at Smith. They have been meeting with students, faculty, staff, and administrators to get the college to purchase renewable energy, distributing brochures and gathering petition signatures in support of renewable energy, holding bake sales, and publishing articles in the Sophian. Recently, they entered a Race to End Dirty Energy contest sponsored by Energy Action. The group placed seventh in the national competition, which honored their efforts to collect student signatures in support of using renewable energy resources. As one of the top ten groups, these students won 105,000 kWh of Green-e certified wind and solar RECs for the College: the equivalent of a day and a half of renewable power for the entire campus!

Smith can take advantage of renewable energy by purchasing solar panels or wind energy certificates (WECs). Solar panels would be a highly visible addition to the Smith campus and a great learning tool. The cost of a 50 kilowatt solar panel unit is about $100,000. Purchasing wind energy certificates would allow Smith to support the building of wind turbines to displace energy generated by conventional power plants. The cost of wind energy certificates represents the additional cost needed to make a kilowatt hour of electricity green. Currently, wind energy costs about 10 cents per kilowatt hour (kwh), while traditional energy is about 8 cents per kwh. The additional annual cost to purchase 20% wind energy at Smith ranges from about $22,000 for the lowest cost wind energy, most likely from the Midwest, to $140,000 for wind energy from New England or the Mid-Atlantic region. These figures represent a 1.2% to 8% increase of what we currently pay for electricity. This seems a small price to pay for the many human and environmental benefits purchasing renewable energy would afford.

In addition to environmental benefits, Smith would also derive educational and public relations benefits from purchasing renewable energy. It would enhance the academic curriculum at Smith, boost the college’s sustainability goals, earn LEED certification points for the new Engineering and Molecular Sciences building, qualify Smith for EPA’s Green Power Partnership and Green Power Leadership awards, enhance the reputation of the College, and attract progressively minded students to Smith. Purchasing renewable energy improves the quality of our institution as well as our environment.

If you would like to add your signature to the growing list of Smith community supporters of this initiative or help in some other way, please contact Changxin Fang at cfang@smith.edu.