Warren Wilson College has become the first college or university in the Southeast to convert to 100 percent “green” power.

 

The green power comes in the form of renewable energy credits, or RECs. Warren Wilson is purchasing the RECs from Atlanta-based Sterling Planet, a company whose corporate clients include Alcoa, DuPont and Pitney Bowes.

 

Also known as green tags, RECs do not require energy to be physically delivered to the buyer. Instead, they offset the difference between the cost of renewable power – from sources such as wind and solar – and power from fossil energy sources. Warren Wilson now offsets all of its energy use with RECs through the agreement with Sterling Planet that began in July 2006.

 

The purchase is the result of a yearlong effort by the student Environmental Action Club and Campus Greening Crew to bring 100 percent green power to Warren Wilson. Students researched numerous REC providers, made a recommendation to college administrators and launched a successful petition drive. Warren Wilson will be purchasing about 4.4 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy annually.

 

“Warren Wilson students did an impressive job of working with college administration to get the purchase approved,” Sterling Planet vice president Joe Barclay said. “Going 100 percent green positions them in a leadership role on a nationwide level. A lot of colleges and universities are procuring renewable energy, but the 100 percent commitment is outstanding.”

 

The benefits of the college’s REC purchase perhaps can be expressed best in terms of positive “nots.” The carbon dioxide emissions that will be avoided by the annual offset equal 6,686,463 miles not driven, or 2,404 automobile trips not taken from Los Angeles to New York City. In turn, the nitrogen oxide emissions to be averted equal 4.68 years that a diesel truck is not left idling.

 

Significant as the credits are to the national electricity grid, conservation must remain a major part of the college’s energy efforts, said Stan Cross, education coordinator for Warren Wilson’s Environmental Leadership Center.

 

“Accepting institutional responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions must also include identifying, implementing and monitoring ways to significantly reduce energy use,” he said. Green power is still energy, he pointed out, and it doesn’t come with permission to waste."

The college also has been awarded membership in the 2006 Green Power Club of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joining what the EPA calls "an elite group of Green Power Partners who are demonstrating exemplary environmental leadership." Green-power purchase requirements for the club are roughly four times those of the EPA's Green Power Partnership.