Sun, Sun, Sun, Here It Comes

Medford, Mass.—Tufts University, a leader in environmental innovation among New England’s higher education circles, is pleased to announce a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust Fund that will support the design and construction of a new solar residence hall. Tufts will provide matching funds to make the project a reality.

A private university with three campuses and about 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students, Tufts has a long history of action in favor of the environment. In 1990, Tufts was the first university to commit to and implement the EPA Green Lights program. It was also the first university to develop an environmental policy program in April 1991. Tufts initiated the Talloires Declaration, a statement of environmental commitment that has now been signed by more than 300 college and university presidents worldwide.

The Fairmont House’s solar electric panel provides about 10% of the building’s power.

Currently in the early design phases and planned for construction in 2003-2004, the new dorm will house about 150 students in 50 double rooms and 50 singles and will feature renewable energy from photovoltaic (PV) panels integrated into the building design. The L-shaped dorm will be approximately 52,000 square feet with six floors, with a large glassy bridge connecting the two portions of the L.

Roof top panels will provide the bulk of the renewable power, augmented by PV in the south-facing curtain wall. In addition to the solar technology, the residence hall will provide Tufts with opportunities to further reduce campus energy demand through the design and installation of solar hot water, improved glazing and sun shading, and decreased air conditioning loads and/or natural ventilation.

The Schmalz Center renovations included a solar hot water system.

In addition, the building will provide a walkway connection along a well-traveled route through the campus. A monitoring display of the building’s performance will be located in a highly visible manner along this route. In this way, many faculty, staff and students, who do not reside in the building, but pass through it as they move about campus, will be constantly reminded of the combined effectiveness of integrated solar heat and power and end-use efficiency. A faculty apartment on the top level, a roof terrace, and large spacious atrium spaces will help to make this a new model for living and learning at Tufts.

“This project is more about changing our sense of what is possible than it is about specific technology,” says Dr. William Moomaw, Professor of the International Environmental Policy at Tufts and Director of their Institute of the Environment. “I hope that it’s not long before a majority of colleges and universities are constructing buildings like this rather than the traditional, high emissions buildings of the past.”

Dr. Moomaw helped found Clean Air-Cool Planet and was a lead author of the chapter that identified the technical options for emissions reduction for the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, upon which part of the Kyoto Protocol is based. He currently sits on Clean Air-Cool Planet’s Board of Directors.

Tufts commitment to climate change is bold, comprehensive, and action-oriented. In April 1999, Tufts University’s president pledged that the university would meet or beat the goals of the Kyoto Protocol by 2012—reducing carbon emissions in university operations by 7% below 1990 levels. This goal was recently reaffirmed in March by Tufts’ new president, Larry Bacow. The Tufts Climate Initiative (TCI) was launched as part of the commitment to steer Tufts University towards lower emissions and a cleaner energy path.

John Vik, Tufts Grounds Manager, shows off the Toyota Prius.

As one of Clean Air-Cool Planet’s campus partners, TCI undertook an inventory of the major greenhouse gas emission sources at each of the Tufts’ three campuses and calculated the resulting emissions (the full report is available at http://www.tufts.edu/tci). TCI used the emissions inventory to determine that the school could meet its goals through a combination of strategies. Since the inventory’s completion, Tufts has focused attention on new and existing buildings, alternative fuels, and personal action.

TCI has created several white papers that document its research and experiences in implementing new technologies, policies, and programs. For more information about other energy improvements around the campus, visit http://www.tufts.edu/tci. Contact Ned Raynolds, Senior Program Officer for Clean Air-Cool Planet, (nraynolds@cleanair-coolplanet.org) for more information about how to get energy efficiency programs started on your campus.

--Katurah Mackay