When comparing colleges and universities to attend, more students these days want to know how these schools implement environmental policies.
According to a news release issued Nov. 19 by Clarkson University in Potsdam, the Princeton Review “has seen a high level of interest among college applicants and their parents in colleges with green practices, programs, and offerings. Sixty-six percent of the 12,845 respondents (college-bound teens and parents) to the Princeton Review’s 2020 College Hopes & Worries Survey said that having information about a college’s commitment to the environment would affect their (or their child’s) decision to apply to or attend a school.”
So it helps a school to have an established record of dedication to becoming more environmentally friendly. Clarkson University has once again shown that it’s considered one of the top institutions in the country in this regard.
“Clarkson University is one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to the Princeton Review, the Sierra Club and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education,” the school’s news release said. “Clarkson is featured in the Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2021 Edition. The Princeton Review chose the schools based on a survey of administrators at 695 colleges in 2019-20 about their institutions’ commitments to the environment and sustainability. The company’s editors analyzed more than 25 survey data points in the process of choosing schools for the guide. Clarkson was also recently named a Cool School by Sierra magazine. Sierra analyzed 312 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada on a wide range of environmental factors — from research and curriculum to campus energy use, transportation and fossil fuel divestment. Clarkson University is rated gold by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (AASHE STARS) program for its socially responsible investment in sustainability education and research. STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance.”
This is quite a feather in Clarkson University’s cap. Administrators, staff members, faculty and students have all worked vigorously toward the goal of reducing their carbon footprint.
“We are proud of these rankings,” Alex French, assistant director of sustainability, said in the news release. “They show our dedication to sustainability. In fact, Clarkson is now operating on 100% renewable electricity, an important milestone on our journey to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025.”
In 2017, the school set a goal of eliminating all its greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. A 12-acre solar field installed on property the university owns at the Potsdam Airport provides a little more than 10% of the campus’s total annual electric energy demand.
Clarkson also buys electricity from the village’s West Hydro Plant at a rate higher than the village would get if it was excess and just went back to National Grid, in a remote net metering plan. In addition, it obtains hydroelectric power through a partnership with the New York Power Authority.
The remainder of Clarkson’s energy has come from a third-party electricity generator; this used a combination of greenhouse gas-free and greenhouse gas-emitting electricity resources. However, the university struck an agreement earlier this year with Brookfield Renewable Partners — all of Clarkson’s electricity now comes from renewable sources of energy.
Clarkson University still uses natural gas to heat its buildings and generate hot water, so it still has work to do. But the school has made tremendous strides in practicing what it preaches. It serves as a model for other north country institutions in becoming more environmentally responsible.
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