Renewable Energy 101

Tools for Moving Your Campus to 100% Clean Energy

America’s institutions of higher education can play a leadership role in the fight to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. Colleges and universities across the country should aggressively deploy clean energy on campus, setting a goal to meet all their energy needs – electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation – with clean renewable resources.

Environment New Mexico Research & Policy Center

America’s institutions of higher education can play a leadership role in the fight to prevent the worst impacts of global warming. Colleges and universities across the country should aggressively deploy clean energy on campus, setting a goal to meet all their energy needs – electricity, heating and cooling, and transportation – with clean renewable resources.

America has enough renewable energy potential from the sun and wind to power the nation several times over. Studies of the electricity system suggest that high penetrations of renewable energy are possible using technologies available today at costs that society can afford. Technological advances – including the development and commercialization of new methods of energy storage – along with continued declines in the price of renewable energy technologies such as solar power and advances in energy efficiency, suggest that a 100 percent renewable energy system can be achieved by 2050.

As hotspots of innovation and technical expertise, college campuses are the perfect place to develop and implement the clean energy technologies of tomorrow and accelerate the transition to a future powered by 100 percent clean, renewable energy.

Environment America designed this series of 11 fact sheets as a resource for students, faculty and administrators interested in moving their campuses toward sustainability. The fact sheets have been crafted to illustrate the importance, challenges and opportunities of 11 technologies and strategies associated with building a 100 percent clean, renewable energy system. Each fact sheet includes two case studies of effective action on college campuses, as well as a list of resources.

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