Environmental Sustainability

The College of Wooster is making significant progress in becoming a sustainable campus. The Scot Center, opening in January 2012, will sport the largest solar roof on any college facility in the country. Upgrades to 34 campus buildings will reduce the college's carbon footprint by 36 percent and yield operational savings of $5.6 million over 10 years.

Monitor the energy generated (and CO2 offset) by the solar roof in real time.

Find out more about the building upgrades underway that will reduce the college's coal, natural gas, and electricity consumption while reducing our carbon footprint by at least 36 percent.

The grounds crew has implemented a number of environmentally sound practices, while dining services is reducing our daily environmental impact. The E-Center is developing relationships with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and a campus-wide recycling program has been introduced.

Four alumni involved in sustainable agriculture were featured in a recent issue of Wooster magazine.

Student Involvement

Some of the ways that students are getting involved in campus sustainability efforts include:

The Revolving-Loan Environmental Efficiency Fund (REEF) is a financial tool that pays the up-front costs of a campus sustainability project which then pays the fund back over time from the energy savings. In this way funds are continuously being loaned out and regained, or "revolving," to ensure that the fund endures and grows over time.

The application form is succinct, but project proposers must do the necessary homework to be able to specify the logistics of their project and how it will accrue cost savings (i.e., an estimate of actual energy savings).

At present the REEF Committee consists of a handful of dedicated students and several faculty and staff. We are actively looking for more dedicated students to join and help publicize the fund, review applications, and make award decisions. Please contact Professor Matt Mariola if you are interested or to apply for funding.