Community colleges across the country are leading the green revolution, as administrators are tuning into the many benefits an environmentally responsible campus provides. One particular institution, Butte College in Northern California, will be the first college in the country to boast a positive grid campus, producing more clean energy than it uses, according to a press release. While Butte College is setting the standard for greener campuses, other colleges are following suit with a variety of creative programs designed specifically for sustainability.
Paying for such environmental changes can be a hefty undertaking, as colleges like Butte have found. However, the federal government has pitched in to help Butte fund its sustainability efforts through low-interest loans like Clean Renewable Energy Bonds and benefits from the American Recovery and Investment Act. Other colleges have also found funding assistance through state and federal government agencies, while still others have footed the bill for some of their projects themselves or through private donations.
Butte College
By May of next year, Butte College will become the first positive grid campus in the country. At that time, the college predicts that it will be producing more sustainable, on-site solar energy than it actually uses; in fact, Butte will become the biggest energy-producing college in the world. The excess energy Butte generates will become a positive source of income for the college, according to Dr. Diana Van Der Ploeg, Butte College's president.
"Sustainability is