4. Rely increasingly on natural energy flows.

Aim for carbon neutrality on campus by reducing fossil fuel use, and by increasing activities that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

1) Oil/Natural gas

Establish a campus thermal policy, establishing guidelines for heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Improve heating control of different areas.

Reduce the use of fossil fuel energy on the college agricultural lands, by reducing tillage (and therefore machinery use) and reducing application of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides.

2) Electricity

Conserve electricity by promoting Energy Star appliances for residence hall rooms.

Encourage students to share refrigerators (which consume a lot of electricity around the clock).

Join the EPA Green Lights program

Keep replacing lighting fixtures with more efficient fluorescent lights.

Purchase or produce renewable energy. Offer students, faculty and staff the opportunity to support financially the college's participation in Xcel's Windsource program. Teach people (students, staff and faculty) how to turn stuff off, and why it's a good idea.

Register electrical appliances in offices and dorm rooms, and try to reduce the number of such appliances.

3) Cars

Work toward a pedestrian campus, taking out roads and parking lots on the main campus, or relocating them to more peripheral placements.

Let users (including faculty and staff) pay the full cost of parking, including creation and maintenance of lots, and management of runoffs, including wetland management.

Consider creation of "green" parking lots, with permeable surfaces to allow water to filter through gravel back into aquifers.

Bicycles provide a green alternative to motorized transportation

Consider a "black and gold" bikes program to minimize car use in fall and spring.

Create covered parking for bikes to make it easier to park them on campus.

Buy hybrid or natural gas vehicles for the college fleet.

Convert to bio-diesel blends (eventually 50%) in college diesel vehicles.

Create a one-page summary of the environmental effects of cars, for use in the Car Office.

4) Residence halls

Retrofit an honor house to be a state-of-the-art showcase for how to do ecological design.

Create one or more Energy Star showcase dorm rooms, and feature them in publications.

Establish a "black and gold and green" residence hall, where students can practice energy-saving lifestyles.

Use an early summer mailing to encourage incoming students to bring energy-efficient appliances and lights with compact-fluorescent bulbs.

5) Conservation

Continue to improve the thermal efficiencies of buildings, and the operating efficiencies of the appliances and equipment we use.

Undertake educational programs to encourage students, faculty and staff to conserve energy on campus and off-campus too.

Consider offering incentives for conserving behavior.

6) Carbon sequestration

The college should support activities to remove carbon from the atmosphere, including planting more trees to act as a carbon sink.