"This past summer, The Princeton Review - a test-prep and college admissions services company - conducted an analysis and ranking of the eco-friendliness of 629 schools.
Results are based on schools’ self-reported sustainability-related policies, practices, and programs; as well as student ratings of how sustainability issues influenced their education and life on campus, administration and student support for environmental awareness and conservation efforts, and the visibility and impact of student environmental groups.
This year’s ‘greenest’ schools are …" …
Go green!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/karstenstrauss/2017/09/20/americas-top-green-colleges/#63be13245ffa
In 2017 Colorado State University became the greenest university, Stanford got the second place and Sterling College - the third.
Stanford generates over 50% of its energy use from a 200 acre solar farm it constructed in the Mojave Desert… reduces campus emissions by 68% from peak levels. In its first year of operation it saved 18% of campus potable water.
… technically Stanford doesn’t get the energy directly… it sells the energy to the grid in Southern Cal and gets it back off the grid in Northern Cal.
http://news.stanford.edu/2016/12/05/stanford-unveils-innovative-solar-generating-station/
it’s part of the Stanford Energy System Innovations (SESI) which also involved replacing 22 miles of pipes and retrofitting 155 buildings to recycle waste heat
http://sustainable.stanford.edu/campus-action/stanford-energy-system-innovations-sesi
I wonder if the waste heat can be turned into something really useful, like say a liquid or solid fuel that can be stored and resold.
I wonder how much coal was used to produce the solar cells that Stanford uses. That’s the problem when you only look at one side of energy use, not the system total.
@TooOld4School, eh, coal plants need energy to be built, need energy to transport the coal, etc.
You’re never going to produce energy without expending energy.
@PurpleTitan , Several years ago it took more energy to produce a solar panel than the panel would produce in its projected lifetime in many states. Wind is a lot more efficient, and things are rarely as ‘green’ as they appear.
@TooOld4School, the price of solar panels has been dropping like a rock, however. That means the energy and materials to produce one must be much less (since both those cost money).
If this is important, consider Elon in NC. It is the “greenest” campus of 18 we visited in the past four years.