4. Rely increasingly on natural energy flows.

The St. Olaf Physical Plant

The primary environmental impact for almost all colleges and universities-and for most Americans as well-is consumption of fossil fuels, which is usually out of sight and out of mind. Different fossil fuels have different environmental impacts, but they have at least one in common. When hydrocarbons burn in the presence of oxygen, they produce useful energy, but they also produce water vapor and carbon dioxide. Along with other gases-methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6)—carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat, causing global warming and climate change.

At St. Olaf, 20 percent of our electricity also comes from nuclear power, which does not produce greenhouse gases. Nuclear power generation, however, has its own environmental impacts, from uranium tailings to radiation contamination to reactor accidents to long-term storage of nuclear waste. Especially since 2001, nuclear reactors have also been seen as a terrorism risk.

Even without the looming oil shortage, an energy economy powered by fossil fuels and nuclear energy is neither sustainable nor just. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), over the past 50 years, we have observed an increase in global mean surface temperature , an increase in frequency and intensity of drought in parts of Asia and Africa , and an increase in frequency and intensity of warm ENSO episodes. The IPCC concludes that about 75% of the observed warming over the last 50 years can be attributed to an increase in greenhouse gas concentrations due to burning of fossil fuels, with the remaining 25% attributable to deforestation.

Of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is by far the most important, so a quick way to measure our environmental impacts is to calculate the carbon dioxide emitted as we heat and cool our buildings, cook our food, light our rooms, and run our computers and other appliances.

At St. Olaf we're responsible for about 28 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. This is no small environmental impact. Here's where it comes from. (click to open chart in a new window)

The combustion of fossil fuels is, of course, how we manufacture carbon dioxide for global warming. We usually think of the carbon dioxide as a side effect of the main effect we want—the production of heat—but it's an effect as predictable and as powerful as the heat itself.

In the long run, a sustainable college will run on renewable power that reduces harmful environmental effects. But that's not possible now. At this point, therefore, one measure of our success as environmental stewards is our ability to use energy efficiently. And one measure of that is BTUs (British thermal units) per gross square feet of buildings per degree day. All three parts of this formula are important. The BTUs are simply a way of measuring energy. The gross square feet are a way of making sure that we're not comparing ourselves to the one-room schoolhouse, which uses less energy because it uses less space. And the degree days are a way of making sure that we're not unfairly comparing ourselves with institutions in places without the wide temperature ranges (and extreme cold) that we find in Minnesota. It's a way of keeping comparisons honest.

St. Olaf Energy Efficiency

Comparatively speaking, St. Olaf's figure is very good. But as good as St. Olaf's record is, it's not sustainable and it needs to improve.

Electricity

Lightswitch decoration by the GaiaAgape student honor house

When we flip on a light, or boot up the computer, or crank up the stereo, we're depending on electricity to come surging through the wires and provide power for us. St. Olaf buys its electricity from Xcel Energy, so we depend on Xcel for our energy mix. In 2003-04, Xcel's energy mix was 60% coal, 20% nuclear, 17% natural gas, and 3% hydroelectric. This means that the remote control on a student's TV controls much more than the TV itself. It mines coal, transports it, and burns it. It mines uranium, causes atomic reactions, and produces nuclear waste. It explores gas fields, and digs wells, and constructs pipelines. It dams rivers, and turns rotors, and kills fish. It creates jobs and generates profits too.

US power plants generate electricity, but they also generate about two-thirds of the nation's sulfur dioxide emissions, one-quarter of nitrogen oxides emissions, one-third of mercury emissions, and 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, which is 10 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. These gases and pollutants cause acid rain, premature deaths and sickness, hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks, and global climate change. We think of electricity as clean power, but it's clean only at the site of consumption.

St. Olaf Electricity Consumption

At St. Olaf, we currently use about 18 million kilowatt hours (or 18 megawatts) of electricity a year. Right now in Xcel's energy mix, only the hydroelectric power and the wind power are considered a renewable resource.

Electronics in a St. Olaf residence hall

There are two ways of improving our electrical impact: conservation and the purchase or production of renewable energy resources. When we conserve energy, we're in the business of producing "negawatts," watts that aren't generated because we no longer need them. So it's important to replace inefficient lighting fixtures, and to purchase energy-efficient appliances. It's important to turn off lights and computers and stereos. It's important to share refrigerators—which use more energy than other appliances—or to imagine how to live without one. It's important to use our purchasing power to influence manufacturers to produce even more efficient appliances and fixtures.

In recent years, when the college has refurbished buildings for re-use, we have worked with Xcel's Energy Design Assistance group to maximize efficiency. When we converted the old student center to an Arts building, for example, we faced higher needs for ventilation, but still ended up with no additional BTUs expended in the building. When we re-roof buildings, we always meet or exceed current energy guidelines. The college has also retrofitted lighting in the residence halls and academic buildings during regular renovation, using fluorescent and compact fixtures to reduce electrical use. Occasionally, these retrofits have unexpected benefits. In the Science Center, replacing the incandescent lights also reduced the cooling load because of the heat that bulbs had added to the building. Conservation is a common practice at St. Olaf, even though it's probably not yet a common state of mind.

The second way of improving our electrical impact is to switch our electricity purchases to more renewable sources. Many colleges are beginning to commit to purchases of wind power. In 2002, a consortium of Pennsylvania colleges committed to substantial purchases of wind energy from Community Energy Inc., a company that built the first commercial wind plant in Pennsylvania in 1999, and now runs the largest wind farms east of the Mississippi. Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York pioneered the same concept in New York. Connecticut College and Trinity College began purchasing wind energy from EAD Environmental. And also in 2002, Catholic University of America committed to buy 12 percent of its energy from wind power for five years. So far, most campuses are committing to wind purchases of 5-15 percent of their total electrical load. No campuses operate entirely on green power.

Wind generator

A few colleges have been thinking about establishing their own wind farms. Since 1995, St. John's and St. Benedict's Colleges in Minnesota have been studying wind power possibilities. Supported by a $700,000 Department of Energy grant, several American Indian tribal colleges are also exploring renewable energy. With a commitment to both geothermal energy and wind power, Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota is on the verge of being the first college in the country to run entirely on renewables. Our neighbor, Carleton College, has done more than just think about wind power: Carleton will become the first college in the nation to own a utility-scale wind turbine. with September 2004 as the target date for the beginning of commercial operation. But there's still plenty of room for leadership in this area. ¹

In March of 2004, St. Olaf applied for an Xcel Energy grant to build a 1.65 megawatt wind turbine that could produce 6 million kilowatt hours of electrical energy. In September, the grant was approved, and plans are now going forward for a turbine to be located on college agricultural lands behind Ytterboe Hall, and wired right into the college's own electrical loop. This will greatly reduce St. Olaf's production of carbon dioxide for electricity.

Cars, Colleges and Contentment

There aren't many cars in college classrooms, and most colleges and universities don't teach driver's education or automotive repair. But cars drive a lot of the environmental and cultural patterns at America's institutions of higher education. As we institutionalize the benefits of liberal education, we also institutionalize the costs and benefits of cars. As we celebrate the life of the mind, we're usually not mindful of the vehicles parked or passing outside our classrooms. Ironically, they seem natural to us.

The college itself owns many vehicles, including cars, trucks, vans, tractors, lawn mowers, and snowplows. All of these vehicles have an environmental impact. In 2004, the Facilities crew converted its diesel vehicles to a 20 percent biodiesel mix.

Parking lot near Buntrock Commons

While the college fleet is important, it's only a small proportion of the cars on campus on any given day. Faculty, staff and students drive to campus, and drive on campus. Suppliers make deliveries, and visitors come for hundreds of different reasons. Almost all of these vehicles are powered by internal combustion engines, and all of those engines propel pollution and climate change as well as freight and passengers.

In the Spring 2004 Campus Ecology class, students calculated the mileage of one round trip for each member of the faculty and staff listed in the college directory. We were able to calculate mileage for 763 people. We know that some people walk, and not all members of the faculty and staff come to campus every day. We know that some people carpool. But we also know that some people go home for lunch or a nap, and they run errands in town. We know that visitors come to campus every day, and that freight trucks log miles that aren't included in our calculations. In any case, our mileage figure offers a (very) rough estimate of our automotive environmental impact. Each day, the St. Olaf community is responsible for 19,788 miles of driving, almost enough to circumnavigate the earth.

When a car burns a gallon of gasoline—which weighs about six pounds—it exhales about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. By weight, gasoline is about 85 percent carbon. So when it burns in the car engine, each gallon produces about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. If you count the fuel burned in getting gas to the pump, a car that averages 20 mpg produces about 25 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon.² Averaging 20 mpg, the cars that come to campus emit almost 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide-every day that classes are in session.

The college car policy has evolved over the years to accommodate the desires of our students, staff and faculty, but not necessarily to meet our real needs for access to particular places, or the needs of the planet. The college issues permits to students working (academically or otherwise) off-campus, to commuters, to service volunteers, to students with medical conditions needing off-campus treatment, and—on a space-available basis—to seniors. Currently, students pay $70 a semester (and $19) for interim for parking privileges.

Faculty and staff also need permits to park in college spaces, but the permits are free. So there's no economic incentive for them to carpool, or to find alternative means of transportation.

The college offers on-demand rides through Northfield Transit in Northfield, a co-op bus to the Twin Cities on weekends, and a movie bus on Saturday nights to the Lakeville theaters. But it hasn't comprehensively considered alternative transportation strategies, or the possibility of offering incentives to people who minimize the environmental impact of their coming and going from school.

¹ "Blowing in the Wind: Tribal Colleges Lead the Way in Renewable Energy," Native Peoples (May/June 2001) reprinted at www.collegefund.org/news/news01/energy.shtml .

² John Ryan, Over Our Heads , p. 32.