Olivia DrakeStudent activists involved in Students for a Just and Stable Future were featured in an April 18 Middletown Press article titled "Wesleyan students raising awareness of clean energy, camping outside a week." The students want state leaders to work toward requiring that all electricity in the state comes from renewable sources such as solar or wind power by 2020. They are "rejecting the dirty electricity of their dorm rooms and are instead camping on Foss Hill." “What we want is that anytime you are in your house in Connecticut and you turn on a switch, all that electricity is coming…
Wesleyan has reached the gold standard in sustainable structures. On March 15, the U.S. Green Building Council awarded Wesleyan's newly-renovated Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life building a Gold Certification based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system that verifies that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. "The Gold Certification demonstrates Wesleyan’s…
Between now and Earth Day in April, Wesleyan employees who seek greener ways to commute to campus will have the opportunity to earn rewards through the Earth Day Commuter Challenge 2010: "Race to the Finish." The event encourages all forms of green commuting including carpooling, vanpooling, telecommuting, biking, walking and taking the bus, and is projected to eliminating more than 140,000 vehicle trips state-wide. This level of participation would result in 5,000,000 fewer miles of driving and the elimination of 2,000 tons of emissions. "Our hope is that the Earth Day Commuter Challenge will encourage employees to get out of…
During the last 50 years, humans have degraded rivers and lakes through excessive water abstraction, pollution and by over-harvesting aquatic organisms. River flow has been impeded by dams, and floodplains have been converted for agriculture and urban areas. The human population has doubled to nearly 7 billion and, per capita water availability has declined on all continents. During the past 50 years, global climate change has further impacted water resources. On Nov. 7, three climate experts will speak on "Global Environmental Change And Freshwater Resources: Hope For The Best Or Change To Prepare For The Worst?" during the annual Where…
During the summer recess, amateur gardeners Sierra Bintliff ’12 and Nat Lichten ’09 seeded rows, weeded, irrigated, and tended fruits, vegetables and livestock at a small organic farm near St. Joseph's College in Standish, Maine. A bulk of the bounty was harvested for St. Joseph's dining services, managed by Bon Appétit Management Company, the same business that oversees Wesleyan dining. "I was thrilled at the opportunity to work for a company whose mission statement embodies the ideal combination of my two passions: sustainability and food," says Bintliff, who works as a Bon Appétit catering employee at Wesleyan. "While working on…
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It's one mean, green machine and it's saving Wesleyan up to $5,000 a day in energy costs. Wesleyan's new Cogeneration system - or CoGen, - uses natural gas to simultaneously generate electricity, heat and steam for university use. It began operation in February after an 18-month installation process. "Buying electricity from the grid is expensive and non-efficient,” says Peter Staye, associate director of utilities management. “With CoGen, we are generating 81 percent of our own power. It should pay for itself in five years." CoGen operates similar to a vehicle with an extreme super-duty engine. The natural-gas fired, turbo-charged, four-stroke…
Peter Staye, associate director of utilities, points to the ceiling of the Bacon Field House. About 140 high-tech light fixtures span the width of the dome-roofed gymnasium. "These are special lights for high ceilings," he says. "There's 24 fewer fixtures here than there used to be, and it's just as bright. If we used florescent fixtures, we'd need 240 of them." The new, 350-watt, high-intensity discharge bulbs have replaced the older, 400-watt bulbs, and use 373,000 fewer kilowatt hours per year. They're also programmed to turn on in zones, and change luminosity throughout the day based on a newly-installed ambient…
Trash bins may find themselves down in the dumps, at least around Wesleyan’s campus. The university is replacing them - one by one - with recyclable containers in attempt to make Wesleyan a "greener" campus community. "Most everything we throw away at our desks - paper, plastic water bottles and soda cans and cardboard packaging material - is recyclable," says Jeff Miller, associate director for facilities management. "So why keep a trash can under your desk?" Miller and other members of Wesleyan's Recycling and Waste Committee, a subcommittee of Wesleyan's Sustainable Advisory Group for Environmental Stewardship (SAGES), are spearheading efforts…
Wesleyan was mentioned in an Oct. 15 issue of The Middletown Press for making "enormous strides in sustainability." Wesleyan has established a climate action plan with a pledge for the campus to become carbon neutral by 2050. In the article, Bill Nelligan, the director of environmental health, safety and sustainability, stated that "Wesleyan has a strong commitment and the mechanisms in place to live up to those commitments." The campus has implemented numerous initiatives, including a rideshare program, kitchen waste donation to the city composting program, and a solar panel donation to city schools.