AMHERST – New dormitories opening this summer at Amherst College, and a science center scheduled to be completed in 2018, will feature elements that significantly reduce energy use.
A Climate Action Plan being developed at the college will make a series of recommendations ensuring the campus is carbon neutral, while energy meters will be purchased to study where improvements can be made.
In addition, investment managers are being encouraged to pay attention to the environment in making decisions about where the money in the college’s endowment should be invested.
These are among accomplishments and proposals contained in a report issued by the college May 3 that “outlines a number of specific initiatives, which touch in various ways on operations, investments and the life of the community” and ensure that the college is meeting the Statement on Sustainability and Investment Policy issued by trustees in February 2015.
That statement acknowledged climate change and pledged to create a carbon-neutral campus, outlining steps to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, increase recycling and serve more homegrown food in its dining commons.
Though the report, published on the college’s website at https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/green-amherst/what-the-college-is-doing/sustainability-report-2016, was issued just a day before Amherst Town Meeting advocated for a petition from Divest Amherst, a student group pushing for the college to fully divest from fossil fuel investments, the timing was coincidental, said college spokeswoman Caroline Hanna in an email.
“This update was prepared in following up on the board’s statement of 2015, not because of the Divest Amherst petition,” Hanna said. “It was worked on by several offices over many weeks.”
Divest Amherst member Carley Tsiames, who will be a junior at the college in the fall, said the student group supports much of the content of the report.
“We applaud the college’s on-campus efforts towards sustainability, but the impact is not enough within the global context of climate change,” Tsiames said.
Fossil-fuel investments continue to pose problems, she said.
“The college cannot be carbon-neutral with continued investments in fossil fuel companies,” Tsiames said.
While the report indicates increased investments in sustainable energy, with 20 percent of the college’s commitments to private energy in alternative energy investments, Tsiames said there is disappointment that the other 80 percent of private energy investments could be in fossil fuel.
“They address the environmental impacts of investments simply from a financial risk perspective. We do not agree with this approach. The financial risks of fossil-fuel investments are significant to the argument for divestment,” Tsiames said.
The report shows that the college has reached out to each of its investment managers asking how environmental stewardship is incorporated when evaluating investments. The college is encouraging investment managers to more explicitly incorporate environmental factors into their work and to document their own advances.
Improvements being made on campus include the new science center, while will use 60 percent less energy per square foot than a traditional science building, and the Greenway dorms, as they are called, designed with efficiency, along with plans to use the endowment to “more directly to invest in building retrofits or new construction that provide a financial return on these investments.”
The Office of Environmental Sustainability, created in 2014, is drafting a Climate Action Plan, with the help of a task force made up of administrators, faculty and students.
As part of its work, the office helped with a course on the United Nations conference on the climate in Paris in December, and supported student-led projects such as the Green Athletics Committee, the Food Waste Initiative and the Amherst College Student Bike Share.
In fiscal year 2017, the college will spend $250,000 to begin installing energy meters across campus, which will show areas of the campus that are underperforming related to energy use.
In addition, Amherst College is pursuing the feasibility of a collaborative purchase of renewable energy involving the Five Colleges and Williams College, and is also considering building its own on-site solar photovoltaic array.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
