Students Help Design Greenhouse Gas Study for Swarthmore Borough

by Rebecca Ringle '11
3/17/2009

40% of the College's energy supply is provided by wind power.

Engineering Professor E. Carr Everbach is leading an effort of students and and Professors Jeffery Featherstone and Bradley Flamm of Temple University's Center for Sustainable Communities, will work together with students to gather and evaluate data to develop an action plan for the College and surrounding municipalities.

The Pennsylvania State Department of Environmental Protection recently awarded a $79,000 grant to Swarthmore Borough and the surrounding four municipalities to support projects to slow, reduce, and stop greenhouse gas emissions. Swarthmore, Rose Valley, and Rutledge Boroughs, along with Nether Providence Township, plan to use the grant to conduct an inventory of local greenhouse gas sources, develop a reduction goal, and draft a climate change action plan for the communities.

The Borough of Swarthmore is a Pennsylvania Clean Energy Community and the top-ranked Green Power Partner in the state according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nationally, Swarthmore Borough is ranked first among Green Power Communities in its use of emission-free, green power as a percentage of total power used, and plans to increase that percentage from 14 percent to 20 percent by the year 2010.

Additionally, Nether Providence Township created the first Environmental Advisory Committee in the state in 1978. In 2007, the township extended its leadership role by being the first Delaware County community to commit to greenhouse gas reductions under the "Cool Cities" program. The Boroughs of Rutledge and Rose Valley have also acted to soften their impact on the environment.

Learn more about Swarthmore College's environmental inititatives at The Greening of Swarthmore.