| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 60.65 |
| Liaison | Michael Amadori |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.09 / 4.00 |
Michael
Amadori Sustainability Manager Office of Sustainability |
Total energy consumption, performance year:
Clean and renewable electricity (report kilowatt-hours):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity from certified/verified clean and renewable sources (i.e., bundled green power purchases) | 5,668,754 Kilowatt-hours | 19,341.79 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, clean and renewable sources (rights retained/retired) | 2,803 Kilowatt-hours | 9.56 MMBtu |
A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable electricity:
Hobart and William Smith Colleges generate electricity from two solar farms – together representing one of the largest solar installations at a higher education institution in New York State – that deliver 50 percent of the Colleges’ electricity.
The Route 14 solar farm has more than 7,600 solar panels and the second array, located on Gates Road in the Town of Seneca, has 8,600 panels. Each farm is around 2.5 megawatts in size and cover approximately 10 acres of marginal land that has little agriculture potential.
Besides providing us with carbon free electricity, they offer students with hands-on learning experiences. Each semester different classes or student groups will go on tours to see them closeup and get a better understanding for how they work.
A brief description of the on-site renewable electricity generating facilities/devices:
The Colleges have a 1,980 watt photovoltaic array installed at the Finger Lakes Institute, a research institute located on campus.
Clean and renewable thermal energy (report MMBtu):
| MMBtu | |
| Clean and renewable stationary fuels used on-site to generate thermal energy | 208 MMBtu |
| Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water from certified/verified clean and renewable sources | 0 MMBtu |
A brief description of the clean and renewable stationary fuels:
The Colleges have a geothermal heating and cooling system installed at the Finger Lakes Institute consisting of 20 wells drilled 100 feet deep on the hillside overlooking Seneca Lake.
A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable thermal energy:
Unbundled renewable energy products (report kWh):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Purchased RECs, GOs, I-RECs or equivalent unbundled renewable energy products certified by a third party | 6,917,000 Kilowatt-hours | 23,600.80 MMBtu |
A brief description of the unbundled renewable energy products:
The colleges purchased 6,417,000 kWh of REC's from Community Energy. The RECs are through National Wind and are 100% Green-e certified. We also purchased 500,000 kWh of REC's from ACT Commodities. These REC's were a mixture of wind and hydro.
Total clean and renewable energy generated or purchased:
Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for clean and renewable energy is available:
Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
| Percentage of total electricity use (0-100) | |
| Biomass | --- |
| Coal | --- |
| Geothermal | --- |
| Hydro | 2 |
| Natural gas | --- |
| Nuclear | --- |
| Solar photovoltaic | 48 |
| Wind | 50 |
| Other (please specify and explain below) | --- |
A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
| Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100) | |
| Biomass | --- |
| Coal | --- |
| Electricity | --- |
| Fuel oil | --- |
| Geothermal | 0.20 |
| Natural gas | 99.80 |
| Other (please specify and explain below) | --- |
A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Information on the renewable energy systems of the Finger Lakes Institute can be found at https://www.hws.edu/fli/facility.aspx
Solar Farm ribbon cutting:
http://www2.hws.edu/hws-celebrates-solar-farm-opening/
https://www2.hws.edu/hws-opens-2nd-solar-farm-site/
Information on the renewable energy systems of the Finger Lakes Institute can be found at https://www.hws.edu/fli/facility.aspx
Solar Farm ribbon cutting:
http://www2.hws.edu/hws-celebrates-solar-farm-opening/
https://www2.hws.edu/hws-opens-2nd-solar-farm-site/
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.