CC Hits 2020 Carbon Neutrality Target
By Leslie Weddell
C
olorado College has achieved carbon neutrality, a goal it set in 2009 when it committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2020. After a decade of work, the ambitious target has been met — even as the college increased its building footprint by more than 10% during that time. CC is only the eighth institution of higher education in North America, and the first in the Rocky Mountain region, to achieve this goal. “This achievement is a shared effort; the result of the hard work, commitment, and resourcefulness of the entire Colorado College community,” says President Jill Tiefenthaler. “We thank all those who helped make this happen: former President Dick Celeste, the Board of Trustees, the students and young alumni who have worked on these initiatives, and CC’s faculty and staff, particularly those on the Sustainability Council, whose work and leadership has been invaluable.” Colorado College stands out among other schools that have reached carbon neutrality in an important way — it has made the greatest emission reductions on campus while buying the fewest offsets than any other U.S. campus.
A JOURNEY TO CARBON NEUTRALITY ENACT FORMED
COLORADO ENERGY GRANT
MARK SMITH HIRED
Professor Howard Drossman founds the Environmental Studies Program. Today, the program includes faculty from natural science, social science, and humanities disciplines.
As a response to the Working Group on Campus Sustainability, the Board of Trustees adds an explicit focus to CC’s core values: “... nurture a sense of place and an ethic of environmental sustainability.”
CC builds its first LEEDcertified building, the Russell T. Tutt Science Center, to give departments more space and adequate laboratories for teaching and research.
2000
2003
2003
CC’s student environmental club begins.
Facilities Services obtains a Colorado Energy Grant to insulate heating lines in tunnel to save energy.
1970
1985
1988
1980
1973 ENERGY CRISIS The Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries declares an oil embargo, throwing the U.S. and other countries into an energy crisis. CC installs Interlight's Phantom Tube lamps to reduce energy consumption as a response.
FIRST LEEDCERTIFIED BUILDING
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES PROGRAM FOUNDED
Colorado College receives the annual award for contributions to sustainability in 2007 due to the work of Professor of Economics Mark Griffin Smith.
1970
CORE VALUE: ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
1990 1987-88 ENERGY-SAVING FEATURES
1992 CAMPUS-WIDE ENERGY EFFICIENCY
State-of-the-art energy-saving features are installed during the renovation of Worner Campus Center and construction of Barnes Science Center.
Facilities Services installs a central-cooling distribution system to improve campuswide energy efficiency.
14 | COLORADO COLLEGE BULLETIN | SPRING 2020
2000 2003 FIRST WORKING GROUP ON CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY FORMED Professors Walt Hecox and Howard Drossman work with President Dick Celeste, and, at the demand of students, form a Working Group on Campus Sustainability to make recommendations to the president.
2003 SYNERGY HOUSE The Synergy House, which later becomes a net-zero energy building, is designed as a prototype for students to study and live carbon neutral. It is so popular that a second Synergy House is added in 2012.