Energy Efficiency and Reduction

Wellesley College has had a combined heat and power plant (CHP) since 1994. The plant can generate all of the electricity used on campus but some electricity is imported from the town which includes 5% renewable to allow for participation in the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership Program. The college also utilizes dual fuel boilers for heating which can use natural gas or number 6 oil. The use of number 6 oil has been greatly limited, and this reduction has produced significantly less greenhouse gas emissions per heating unit. Wellesley has also proactively implemented energy-efficient mechanical systems during renovations and upgrades.

Our goal is to further reduce our consumption of electricity by 13% by 2013 (for a total reduction of 25% between 2003-2013) and to reduce our consumption of other energy by 15% as buildings and systems are upgraded.

Projects Include:

• High efficiency lighting including LEDs are being installed throughout campus as renovations occur. Approximately half of our street lights on campus are now LED lights.
• We replaced all of the window shades in Dower with energy efficient insulated shades as a pilot program. They decrease the use of heat in the rooms by providing a fairly sealed shade with insulating and reflective properties.
• The College's 10kw photovoltaic solar array at the sports fields has generated generated a total of 8877 kWh of renewable electricity since installation in September of 2010, and 6210 kWh alone in 2011, for a total of 14,051 pounds of CO2 avoided! That is the equivalent of the carbon sequestered annually by 1.36 acres of pine or fir forests or CO2 emissions avoided from consuming 14.82 barrels of oil. The solar renewable energy can be tracked here.