The Dartmouth Energy Campaign is an opportunity to change the way we work and live and a commitment to reducing our environmental footprint by conserving energy.
"We have exactly enough time - starting now."
-- Donella Meadows*
In order to reduce Dartmouth's greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2015, 25% by 2020, and 30% below 2005 levels by 2030 we must address all aspects of campus energy use including individual energy consumption, college practices, and energy efficiency in existing buildings. We are asking members of the Dartmouth community to join Dartmouth's Energy Campaign by taking an energy pledge and supporting energy-saving changes on campus.
The Dartmouth Energy Campaign has a three-part strategy:
By signing the energy pledge, participants agree to take simple actions that, collectively over time, will have a discernible impact on the amount of energy we consume and greenhouse gas emissions we produce. The pledge actions were selected because they are items that students, staff and faculty can directly control "through their fingertips" and because they will produce results that can be measured through campus energy meters. These are small and simple changes, but until we make them we are still wasting precious energy. Pledge here.
In addition to organizing the energy pledge, we are highlighting and expanding college practices to reduce energy consumption associated with heating and cooling, water use, computers and electronics, and lighting in offices, classrooms and laboratories on campus. Learn more.
Dartmouth has conducted an energy audit of approximately 25 buildings on campus that use approximately 75% of the campus's energy. Based on this audit, over 200 individual projects have been identified that, when implemented, will have significant benefits in reducing Dartmouth's energy use. Many projects are now underway. Learn more.
The 2009 Energy Campaign is sponsored and organized by the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO); Student Assembly; Dartmouth Sustainability Initiative of the Provost's Office; Office of Residential Life; Facilities, Operations and Management; and GreenLite Dartmouth with support from the Computer Science Department; The Neukom Institute for Computational Science; The Institute for Internet Security, Technology and Society; and the Office of Public Affairs.
*This quote was attributed to Dana Meadows by Amory Lovins in the book "Hot, Flat and Crowded" by Thomas L. Friedman, 2008, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
