Green Up

Plymouth State University is a regional comprehensive university with a strong record of teaching, research, and service focusing on the environment and sustainable development. This document highlights some of the many exciting initiatives specifically pertaining to mitigating and adapting to climate change. These activities represent every aspect of the University, and it is particularly relevant to note key PSU programs that have strong impacts in this area, namely: The President’s Commission on Environmental Sustainability, The Center for the Environment, The Environmental Science and Policy Department, the University Environmental Committee, and the Center for Rural Partnerships. (more…)

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Energy Conservation – Be Energy Conscious…

With the oil prices rising, we need to conserve energy on campus. The University burns #2 oil to produce electrical power for the campus. The price of #2 oil has risen from $2.05/gallon in September 2007 to $3.32/gallon in March 2008 which is a 62% increase in costs. A truck load of oil in September cost $19,000 and our last load in March was $31,000.

We need your help in reducing electrical power consumption on campus: (more…)

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PSU is taking another significant step forward in environmental sustainability efforts, with students taking the lead. Sunday, January 27, marked the beginning of the 10-week long RecycleMania competition at PSU. Residents from each residential area on campus are encouraged to recycle glass, #1 & #2 plastics, and cans. Special “RecycleMania” bins are located in the lobby of each residence hall, and in several locations around the University Apartments, which members of Residential Life staff will empty and weigh on a daily basis. (more…)

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Plymouth State University students saved nearly 12,000 kilowatts of electricity in a very successful energy-saving competition.

Danielle Dustin, Samuel Read Hall residence director who organized the ‘Do It in the Dark’ contest, reports students saved 11,764 kilowatt hours of energy during the one-month competition that ran during the month of November. Dustin reports the combined energy savings from all residence halls are the equivalent of 196,067 60-watt light bulbs burning for 16 hours each. (more…)

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The Center for Rural Partnerships (CRP), working in collaboration with North Country Resource Conservation and Development Area Council (RC & D) and the State Forester, has secured funding from the U.S. Forest Service to conduct a feasibility study for converting PSU’s existing co-gen plant from fossil fuels to sustainably-harvested woody biomass from local forests. Conversion from fossil fuels to a renewable energy source (combined with sustainable forestry) has a number of positive attributes, according to CRP Director Thad Guldbrandsen. (more…)

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There’s nothing like a little competition to get students engaged in saving energy. Plymouth State’s residence halls are doing their best to use less energy with a new campaign, ‘Do It in the Dark.’ The month-long competition kicked off Nov. 1 with Pizza and Sustainability Trivia in the residence halls. Danielle Dustin, Residence Director of Samuel Read Hall, says students are being asked to be more energy efficient by turning off and unplugging computers, printers and other electronics and appliances when not in use, in addition to turning off lights in unoccupied rooms and in common areas. (more…)

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PSU’s Vice President for Finance Affairs Bill Crangle has announced his retirement as the University’s chief financial officer after 13 years, effective next June. However, Crangle won’t be going far; in fact, he’ll stay on half-time as Special Assistant to the President for Environmental Sustainability to lead the University’s efforts in environmental sustainability. (more…)

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PSU officially reopened Mary Lyon residence hall in mid-October after a $15 million, year-long renovation. How is it different? A 90 year-old building that was looking and feeling its age has been transformed into a beautiful, energy efficient home to 250 students that’s 40 to 50% more energy efficient than “Old Mary Lyon.”

(more…)

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A newly formed committee is meeting regularly to further the University’s green initiative and reduce it’s carbon footprint. This 18 member committee, including faculty, staff and students, is discussing both short-and long term methods of becoming more environmentally conscious.

What do they have to report, so far? The University is recycling 150 tons of material annually and producing all of it’s own electricity on- campus. We have built the first LEEDS gold-certified residence hall in N.H., Langdon Woods, attracting national recognition. We have refurbished historic Mary Lyon Hall and made it energy-efficient, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in future heating and cooling costs, not to mention the reuse of materials that makes it even more eco-friendly. There’s more to come, and the most exciting aspect of this effort is that so many people believe in it. Students, staff and faculty are engaged in making this campus environmentally sound.

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