Exciting News!
St. Olaf is now subscribed to Community Solar Gardens in an amount equal to 103% of the college’s annual electricity purchase. This commitment will fund the construction of 11 megawatts of photovoltaic generation. In addition, five one megawatt CSGs are being hosted by the College on 40 acres of land just west of the Northfield Hospital (also on land leased from the college).
In conjunction with this effort, the College has switched its electricity purchases to Xcel Energy’s Windsource program, which is certified carbon free by Green-E.
The lease income, along with a small net from the CSG subscriptions, means the college purchased electricity is carbon free with no budget impact.
The 2017 Academic Year Opening Convocation on September 6, 2016 featured a history of the electrification of the college, and celebrated this achievement. The program can be seen here:
An anonymous gift funded the installation of Mondo FTS artificial turf at Manitou Field over the summer. FTS offers a number of choices that taken together yield a safe, consistent, and ecologically friendly installation. This installation features a padding system under the turf that helps to reduce the impact of ground strikes, and facilitates drainage. St. Olaf selected Mondo’s Eco-fill product in lieu of more common black crumb rubber. Eco-fill is a soft green color, is about 30 degrees cooler than rubber in the same conditions, has high recyclable content, and is recyclable itself.