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Sustainability Initiatives
Sustainability at Suffield
Suffield Academy is focused on responsibly using resources and increasing awareness about the school’s carbon footprint. Sustainability initiatives include educational programs, campus construction choices, and various school awards and annual activities.
In 2020 Suffield Academy installed a 600-kilowatt solar power array that produces 800 kW of energy per year. It is located on the western portion of campus and connects to the Ap Seaverns Athletic Center. The array covers around a quarter of Suffield’s annual use, and the system can be expanded over time. The school has a power purchase agreement with the system owners to buy electricity for five cents per kilowatt for fifteen years, with the option to extend twice for five additional years. This rate is less than half of the power rate Suffield Academy currently pays. The system maintenance costs are built into the rate and there are performance guarantees in the agreement related to the minimum of kilowatts delivered from the system. The school can buy out of the contract at various points. A live feed of the energy production is on display in Tisch Field House with a virtual dashboard on Suffield Academy’s website.
The project was made possible by an upfront payment funded by a lead gift from the Willow Springs Foundation, as well as from proceeds from the 2019 Parents’ Association Auction. Trustee Suzy Vogler P’11 and her family help lead the foundation and have made Suffield a major priority in their philanthropic efforts. The solar array was dedicated to the Willow Springs Foundation during the fall Board of Trustees meeting on October 1, 2021.
An additional major gift has helped with a variety of energy reduction projects including a recent energy audit performed by The Stone House Group. While Suffield’s campus size has increased by 71% over the past decade, greenhouse gas emissions from energy have declined. Metric tons of carbon emissions went from more than eight per square foot to under six. The school works closely with Stone House and others to build on environmental stewardship.
Other commitments to environmental responsibility include a comprehensive dining waste composting program, where Suffield partners with local company Blue Earth Compost to turn food waste into fertilizer, and the YETI for Everyone Initiative, where Suffield students, faculty, and staff are given a reusable tumbler to help eliminate the need for single use dining items.
Students and faculty are helping lead environmental initiatives as well. The recipient of the 2022 Robinson Environmental Prize was Ben Warner ’22, who is planning to major in environmental studies at Colorado College. Environmental Science teacher Amy Norris said, “Ben’s consistency and excellent quality of his work demonstrated a true interest in the material and willingness to put it into practice.” In terms of Environmental Science projects, Amy and her students added to their trial pollinator on the Holcomb Hall garden rooftop, which they began last year with the aim of investigating which pollinators are in danger and how communities can transform their properties to help wildlife. Students also wrote papers about how you need evidence to back up an opinion, defending their opinions about public school lunch nutrition, farming and ranching methods, electric and hydrogen-powered cars, hydroponics, food waste, GMOs, and cultured meat. d
