On this Earth Day, Colgate University says it is now the first university in New York to reach carbon neutrality, completing a 10-year plan. The efforts, which resulted in a 46 percent reduction in emissions, included a $1.25 million self-sustaining fund for energy and carbon-reduction projects as well as solar arrays and geothermal heating and cooling systems.
The 200-year-old private university in Hamilton, New York is home to about 3,000 students. WAMC’s Jim Levulis spoke with college president Brian Casey and director of sustainability John Pumilio – who began by describing what carbon neutrality means.
Colgate says Bowdoin College in Maine and Middlebury College in Vermont have also achieved carbon neutrality on their campuses.