This event has been cancelled, and will be re-scheduled
Common Hour Event to focus on Steps to Achieve Carbon Neutrality
What: Karen Misbach, manager of environmental health and safety and head of the Campus Sustainability Task Force, will update faculty, staff and students on the steps that Trinity has taken to reduce the school’s greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint. She will also provide information on how Trinity intends to comply with the objectives of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which Trinity President James F. Jones, Jr., signed in 2007, along with approximately 400 of his peers. Another 250 presidents signed later on. Seven schools have dropped out – three because they closed and four simply withdrew.
When: Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 12:15 p.m.
Where: Rittenberg Lounge, Mather Hall on the Trinity campus.
Background: As a charter signatory of the Commitment, Trinity joined institutions of higher learning across the country in agreeing to take concrete steps to achieve climate neutrality through the establishment of a sustainability task force, the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories, and the development of an institution-wide Climate Action Plan.
Already, Trinity has adopted green standards for buildings; required Energy Star certification for products purchased by the College; and encouraged the use of public transportation.
However, the ultimate target is not just a reduction of emissions but climate neutrality. The 400 charter signatories were supposed to submit their plans – including specific initiatives and timetables – by September 15. Just 88 colleges and universities complied with the deadline. Another 135, including Trinity, filed extensions that will allow them to submit their plans by January 1. The remaining institutions were contacted and offered assistance in drafting their plans. The presidents who signed the Commitment at a subsequent date are faced with staggered deadlines for compliance.
Altogether, the 650 signatories represent about one-third of the U.S. higher-education student population.
Many of the already-submitted plans have set goals and timetables using a variety of energy-saving methods. For example, Ball State University will cut its carbon dioxide emissions by about half through the installation of a campus-wide geothermal district heating and cooling system. The University of New Hampshire will generate up to 85 percent of the energy used on campus from a landfill methane gas-to-energy initiative. At Green Mountain College, a new heat and power biomass facility is predicted to shift 85 percent of current fuel oil usage to sustainable-sourced biomass.
Some schools are finding that their sustainability efforts are saving tremendous amounts of money and energy. Others, however, are having trouble in these difficult financial times to come up with the money that’s necessary to translate good intentions into action.
Yet, many schools have managed to set forth specific goals. For example, Florida International University in Miami plans to cut emissions by 25 percent by 2030. The College of New Jersey is aiming for a more modest 10 percent reduction by 2010, 11 percent by 2011, 13 percent by 2014 and a 100 percent reduction by 2040. The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts has said it will reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2015 and reach total neutrality by 2040. The College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, is already carbon neutral.
For more information, and to review the Commitment, visit the ACUPCC Web site at www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/index/php.
A light lunch will be provided for pre-registered participants only. To reserve a spot, please email: common-hour@trincoll.edu.
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