The William J. Clinton Foundation has arranged to provide $5 billion in loans for institutions of higher education who have signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment to fund projects reducing carbon emissions, Bill Clinton announced on Nov. 7. Though Dartmouth is committed to improving energy efficiency and is working on several initiatives to achieve this goal, the College has no current plans to sign the agreement, according to Matt Purcell, co-chair of the College's Energy Task Force.
The Clinton Foundation will provide funding through partnerships that the organization has established with five major financial institutions. ABN AMRO, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and UBS are each offering $1 billion in loans for projects to increase energy efficiency. Eight energy services companies have been recruited to perform the projects. The foundation hopes that by offering these companies a guaranteed flow of multiple jobs, the companies will be able to reduce marketing expenses and offer colleges their services at a lower cost, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Though these deals are technically open to any college or university, the Clinton Foundation has so far only set up an application process for those institutions that have signed the ACUPCC. The commitment was presented to college and university presidents and chancellors in 2006. Institutions who sign the commitment pledge to eventually eliminate their campuses' greenhouse gas emissions, and to complete and submit a schedule that outlines a plan for doing so.
Purcell, who also serves as associate director of the Office of Planning, Design and Construction, said that though the College received an invitation to sign the ACUPCC about a year ago, Dartmouth, as well as many of its peer institutions, elected not to sign. Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania are the only Ivy League institutions that have signed at this time.
"We felt that it was more important to figure out how to improve energy efficiency, and not just focus on signing an agreement," Purcell said. He also stated that Dartmouth has been concerned about energy efficiency for a long time, and has already put into motion many plans to achieve this long-term goal.
One such initiative is the recently-created Energy Task Force, an alliance of staff, faculty and students that is responsible for evaluating and taking action on issues relating to energy production, procurement, demand, emission reduction and conservation. The group is currently evaluating energy "supply and demand" and has worked with Faculty Operations and Management to hire an independent firm to determine the worst offenders of energy consumption on campus, Purcell said.
FO&M also plans to hire an energy manager, a position that existed before, but has not been filled in recent years. Another group has been convened to look at alternative energy sources.
"We're looking into both solar energy and wind energy," Purcell said. "We were also looking into perhaps using the [Connecticut River], but the dam was recently bought by someone else.\"
Purcell said that he was confident that the College would find the best solution possible, while working within the constraints of the energy sources available in the Upper Valley.
There are also future plans to explore the supply side of the energy issue. The Energy Task Force has considered using biomass as an energy supply, but found that the cost was prohibitive. For now, efforts are being organized to reduce the steam plant's energy output.
"We're currently using 1150 pounds per hour," said Purcell. "We're going to be able to reduce that by about 20 pounds per hour."
Purcell emphasized that improving energy efficiency can be helped by small efforts as well as large ones.
"If we can get everyone together to turn off electrical devices they aren't using, like lights and computers especially, it's a start," Purcell said.
