---

BY ASHIA TROIANO

In print | Published January 22, 2009

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the borough of Swarthmore is ranked 12 among all Green Power Communities in the U.S. In the borough, 14 percent of the energy use is green power. Swarthmore was the only community east of the Mississippi River to make the top 19 list.

Swarthmore has a history of being environmentally conscious. “For about ten years, Swarthmore has been leading in wind power, due to the number of residents who sign up for wind power by getting a wind certificate. It really stepped up as the greenest community in Pa.,” Carr Everbach,

Professor of Engineering and Sustainability Committee Co-Chair, said. “It is important for municipalities to act as leaders.” Most of the clean energy in Swarthmore is supplied as wind power, but also comes in other forms such as solar power.

In 2007, the borough signed an agreement with SmartPower, a non-profit organization dedicated to using clean energy efficiently, to increase its clean energy consumption by 7 percent.

Geoff Semenuk, former councilmember of Swarthmore and current Associate Director of Alumni Relations, said that while most communities were going from 0 percent clean energy to 7 percent, Swarthmore was already using more than 7 percent and then increased their usage to a total of almost 20 percent after signing the SmartPower agreement.

“To use 7 percent more clean energy, we needed about 200 more households [to do so],” Semenuk said. “And we got ridiculously high participation from [the borough of] Swarthmore.” Though PECO, Swarthmore’s energy supplier, would be billing Swarthmore residents a small additional fee to buy clean energy, residents were willing to bear the additional cost.

Semenuk noted that Professor of History Marjorie Murphy’s class spent much of their time canvassing and tabling in Swarthmore to get more people to sign on for green energy. Most of this canvassing was done by offering the residents a chance to buy wind certificates to supply their homes with wind power.

“It’s been great seeing the community respond and the college students participating as much as they did,” Semenuk said.

Currently, the town is applying for the Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant, a program that funds projects that improve air and water quality. If Swarthmore is awarded the grant, the funds will be used to buy an energy collector. Originally, plans were made to buy a 1K collector. Stressing the fact that every little bit helps, Semenuk said, “A 1K collector provides a minimal amount of electricity; it’s minimal but at least that much we wouldn’t be buying from a power company.” But if Swarthmore receives the grant, it will buy a 5K collector.

The collector, a large box that provides energy to an entire building, would be placed on top of Borough Hall in the Ville. “It will be very visible. This way, kids would ask their parents about it, and then the parents would have to find out what it is,” Semenuk said.

The funds will also go towards a screen inside of Borough Hall that displays how much electricity is being used and created by the energy collector, which is also meant to attract the attention of children. In addition, there will be a web-cam on the roof linked to the Internet, which will then display that same information to people at home.

Utilizing a significant portion of its energy, which is calculated into the energy consumption of the entire town, Swarthmore College contributes to the town’s environmental responsibility, so much that it is an EPA Green Power Partner.

According to the EPA’s Website, “The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that supports the organizational procurement of green power by offering expert advice, technical support, tools and resources.” Partners “must meet or exceed a minimum percentage of green power … Green power purchases must also meet eligible resource, vintage and ‘new’ renewables requirements.”

The College is also recognized in the EPA’s leadership club, meaning that Swarthmore, among several other organizations, exceeds the EPA’s minimum standards of green power.

“The College’s main contribution is its 6,000,000+ kWh wind power credit purchase of 40 percent of electrical use combined with the fact that the college is a fairly heavy user of electricity. The EPA includes Swarthmore College in the Green Power Leadership Club based on that percentage,” Ralph Thayer, Director of Maintenance, said in an e-mail.

While the College has its fair share of green facilities, Everbach noted that the Swarthmore put a significant amount of pressure on the College to do more in supporting green initiatives.

“The college supports greening by, for instance, providing letters of support for grants from the borough. But we get as much from the borough as we give,” Everbach said.

There are several ways to get involved in environmental sustainability on campus through student organizations. One of these includes Earthlust, a group dedicated to increasing environmental awareness on campus through educational events.

The organization was also part of the initiative to convert 41 percent of the College’s energy into clean energy. Another such group is the Good Food Project, an effort to increase the use of organic food. Students can also take advantage of the environmental studies department, which includes classes and professors from the humanities and social and natural sciences.

While it is not directly related to the town’s ranking or the college’s status as a Green Partner, Swarthmore’s Sustainability Committee promotes environmental initiatives to the administration. All of these methods have impacted Swarthmore’s environmentalist reputation.

And while the financial crisis is still in full swing, Semenuk doubts that the College’s environmental initiatives will suffer. “Energy products tend to pay for themselves. In the grand scheme of things, it’s better to pay for it,” he said.

“The college does the best it can, but [energy consumption] is a societal problem,” Semenuk said. “For example, 20 years ago, the college didn’t turn off the heat because it was too much of a hassle. Now they do. But if we lowered the thermostats by just four degrees, it would be a little uncomfortable and people would complain, but doing the right thing is sometimes a bit of an imposition.”

To become a Green Power Community, the community must sign a partnership contract with the EPA, meet the standards of the EPA green power consumption within one year of signing the contract and use their resources to help local organizations become more environmentally friendly as well.

The top three Green Power Communities listed on the EPA website are Bellingham, Washington, Santa Clara, California and Beaverton, Oregon.

---

« RETURN TO NEWS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »