Dickinson Named EPA Green Power Champ

College is First in the U.S. to Convert to New Green Fuel, Viesel

April 18, 2010

Dickinson College President William G. Durden '71 and Stuart Lamb '64, shake hands after touring the college's central energy plant and inspecting the modifications made to the Webster boiler so it could burn Viesel.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency named Dickinson its 2009-10 Individual Conference Champion for using more green power than any other school in the Centennial Conference. Dickinson led the conference with the assistance of its Green Power Partner WindCurrent L.L.C., and its purchase of 18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power, representing all of the college’s annual electricity usage.

Dickinson purchases renewable energy certificates from WindCurrent, which helps to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the campus’s electricity use. The EPA estimates that Dickinson’s purchase of green power equates to the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) of nearly 2,000 average American homes or more than 2,000 passenger cars annually.

Green power is generated from renewable resources and is considered a cleaner, lower carbon dioxide emission-producing source of energy. Viesel, a new renewable fuel made from waste vegetable oil, was developed by Stuart Lamb '64 for the fleet of trucks that service his business customers in Florida. As he imagined other uses for Viesel, his thoughts turned to Dickinson’s central energy plant and the steam boilers that provide heat to 60% of the campus. Waste vegetable oil has been used a vehicle fuel but this would be the first time it would be a fuel source for a conventional heating system.

Lamb worked with boiler manufacturer Webster and Dickinson’s facilities management team to use off-the-shelf components to retrofit the main boiler and by March, Dickinson was heating its campus with Viesel. The college’s central energy plant accounts for 60 percent of the heat on campus and almost 30 percent of Dickinson’s fuel combustion emissions. By switching to Viesel, a carbon-neutral, sulfur-free fuel choice, more than 850 metric tons of CO2 each year can be eliminated from the college’s ecological footprint. The college is looking to Viesel as an option for generating electricity through the use of electrical generators – providing even greater potential cost returns and environmental benefits. Dickinson’s goal is to serve as a model for other colleges and universities throughout the country in its use of Viesel and other green energy sources.

Dickinson’s 23 intercollegiate athletic programs participate in the NCAA Division III Centennial Conference, considered one of the nation's elite athletic conferences. The highly selective private colleges include Dickinson, Johns Hopkins University, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Haverford, McDaniel, Muhlenberg, Ursinus and Washington colleges.

Dickinson’s green fuel choices and its recognition from the EPA demonstrate the college’s agility in adapting to new sustainability options and technology. The achievement is a major development in the college’s plan to become carbon neutral in 2020 as outlined in its Climate Action Plan as a leadership circle member of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.

To read more about the EPA’s College and University Green Power Challenge .