Office of Energy and Sustainability
Carbon Neutrality
Oberlin College and Conservatory has achieved its goal of carbon neutrality by 2025!
Oberlin signed the Carbon Commitment (previously American Colleges & University President’s Climate Commitment - ACUPCC) in 2006. The college set the date to achieve carbon neutrality as 2025. Carbon neutrality means reducing greenhouse emissions to zero or otherwise balancing emissions to zero through sequestration and offsets.
Since the first greenhouse gas inventory in 2007, the college has cut on-campus emissions by about half through the purchase of green electricity, installation of a 2.27 MW solar array, energy efficiency projects, and ending the use of coal for heating.
The Sustainable Infrastructure Program continues this important work. The campus heating system has been converted from an antiquated steam system to a geothermal district energy system. This new system lowers resource use on campus and increases comfort all year around with expanded cooling to more campus buildings. In March 2021, the Board of Trustees approved geothermal at the source for heating and cooling. This project will save 5,000,000 gallons of water per year, reduce operating costs by $1 million per year, improve campus efficiency by 30% and advance the College to 90% to carbon neutrality! More about the project at carbonneutraloc.com. The website features project updates, FAQs, and more.
History of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025
In December 2016, the Office of Energy and Sustainability in conjunction with the Board of Trustees Carbon Neutrality Subcommittee of the Capital Planning Committee finalized a study that presented an actionable and financially feasible plan for achieving Oberlin’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2025. The study was called the Oberlin College Carbon Neutrality Resource Master Plan, Implementation Strategy, and Economic Approach and was delivered to the Board of Trustees Capital Planning Committee (CPC) in December 2016. The plan included a set of energy conservation measures (ECMs) that would reduce unnecessary resource use. Beyond the ECMs, the plan focused on addressing heating as the largest source of emissions. At the time, most of campus was heated by burning natural gas - a fossil fuel. After reviewing many solutions, the proposal was to modernize campus from a steam system to a hot water system that was more efficient and updated buildings to receive this more efficient thermal delivery. In March 2021, the Board of Trustees voted to approve geothermal as the source of thermal heating and cooling for campus. More can be found at carbonneutralOC.com.
The study can be found here with a partially redacted appendix: Oberlin College Carbon Neutrality Resource Master Plan, Implementation Strategy, and Economic Approach
The Board of Trustee Carbon Neutrality Subcommittee of Capital Planning Committee was formed in 2016. The design and make-up of the subcommittee is unique compared to other typical subcommittees of Capital Planning Committee as it includes staff, faculty, and students in addition to trustees and works on carbon neutrality solutions that stretch into the next decade. The Carbon Neutrality Subcommittee was designed to address some of the toughest challenges to achieving a carbon neutral campus. In 2018, the subcommittee was also tasked with examining sustainable infrastructure.