Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.64
Liaison Rachael Wein
Submission Date March 3, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Smith College
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.02 / 4.00 Matthew Pfannenstiel
Energy Manager
Facilities Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption (all sources, excluding transportation fuels), performance year :
360,685.06 MMBtu

Option 1 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated on site during the performance year and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes:
2,108.17 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable electricity generating devices :
There are four solar panel installations on Smith College Buildings. Three are on Smith's main campus (Ford Hall, Indoor Track & Tennis (ITT) facility, and the campus Center) which were financed through PPAs. For the second half of the twenty year contract Smith will purchase the green attributes of the ITT power as well. For now we retain the attributes of the Campus Center solar. The forth installation is at the Archibald MacLeish Field Station. The College has retired the RECs for this project, a 9.4kW array.

Option 2 

Non-electric renewable energy generated on-site, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of on-site renewable non-electric energy devices:
---

Option 3 

Total clean and renewable electricity generated by off-site projects that the institution catalyzed and for which the institution retains or has retired the associated environmental attributes, performance year:
0 MMBtu

None
A brief description of off-site, institution-catalyzed, renewable electricity generating devices:
---

Option 4 

Total third-party certified RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products (including renewable electricity purchased through a utility-provided certified green power option) purchased during the performance year:
0 MMBtu

A brief description of the RECs, GOs and/or similar renewable energy products, including contract timeframes:
---

Optional Fields

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
http://www.smith.edu/green/energy_solar.php

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

 

Sierra magazine requests the following information from U.S. institutions that wish to share data with that organization:

Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 1.40
Geothermal 0
Hydro 2.45
Natural gas 82.50
Nuclear 10.50
Solar photovoltaic 3.15
Wind 0
Other (please specify and explain below) 0.70

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
We produce 70% of our campus's electricity in a co-generational power plant, where natural gas is used to create both heat and electricity. We get 2% of our electricity from on-site solar photovoltaic. We do not own the associated environmental attributes of this solar PV. The remaining portion of our electricity, 28%, we purchase from the grid.

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 0
Electricity 0
Fuel oil ---
Geothermal 0
Natural gas 95
Other (please specify and explain below) ---

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
Much of our heat is created in our co-gen plant, where natural gas is used to make both steam and electricity. Additional heat is created by natural gas fired boilers.

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
0.58

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Campus Center: http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice09-056.html Indoor Track & Tennis (ITT) facility and Ford Hall: http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice13-048.html Field Station: http://solartoday.org/2014/03/smith-college-accepts-the-living-building-challenge/

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.