Solar Panels to Generate Power Atop Smith College's Campus Center
In a few weeks, solar panels will be mounted on the roof of the Smith College Campus Center to produce clean energy and reduce the college's operating costs while lowering carbon emissions. Throughout the next 20 years, the system will reduce carbon emissions by 238 metric tons, which is equivalent to the carbon that would be removed by planting 215 acres of trees. More...
Smith Joins International Day of Climate Change: Or, 350 reasons to be at Smith October 24
Right now, 350 may be the most important number in the world. Scientists agree, that number -- 350 parts per million (ppm) -- represents the uppermost safety limit of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the earth's atmosphere. The earth is now sustaining approximately 390 ppm. The excess carbon in the atmosphere increases activity damaging to the earth's natural resources, leading to melting ice caps, for example, and rapidly spreading drought -- eventually endangering human habitation. More...
PBS Journalist to Host Day of Climate Talks
Grécourt Gate News: The increasingly rapid loss of the world's glaciers and the ramifications of this alarming climate development will be the topic of discussion on Tuesday, October 6, when PBS journalist David Brancaccio visits Smith and hosts a local film screening. More...
Bright Lights, Big Savings
Grécourt Gate News: A full replacement will be completed this week of the lights in the Indoor Track and Tennis facility (ITT). The project is replacing 120 metal halide light fixtures, each of which uses 1,000 watts, with 144 fixtures that use 600 watts per unit. The positive results are many: the facility will be brighter due to extra banks of lights added around the track's perimeter. Meanwhile, the new lighting will result in a savings of more than 226,000 kilowatt-hours per year, a cost savings of $38,000, said Gary Hartwell, project manager in Facilities Management, who is overseeing the lights replacement. More...
New Students Search for Sustainable Clues
Grécourt Gate News: Members of the class of 2013 are invited to get to know Smith by participating in a team scavenger hunt. The rules are simple: Form a team and respond to questions by noon Friday, September 4. The team with the highest score wins.
The questions are not so simple. "What is special about the toilets in Ford Hall?" "Name three vegetables planted in the Smith Community Garden in Summer 2009." "Name up to three places locally where you can get a vegan meal."
Smith Sustainable Scavenger Hunt Official Rules >
Opening Convocation Goes "Green"
Smith College News Office: In keeping with sustainability efforts across the campus, there will be no printed program for Opening Convocation this year. The program itself will be projected on the walls of John M. Greene Hall. Music and lyrics for "Gaudeamus Igitur" will be printed on card stock -- we ask that attendees please return the cards as you exit the hall, so they may be used again at future events. The 2008-09 student prize award recipients can be found online. Please take a moment to review the list so that you may congratulate your friends, classmates and housemates.
Ada's Initiative Helps Take The Heat Off Energy Use
Grécourt Gate News: Last year, when Kerry Valentine AC'10J was challenged to come up with an environmentally sustainable project that could be applied to Smith College, she kept her cool. That is, Valentine set to work researching an energy-saving technology that had recently been installed in the walk-in coolers of the restaurant she manages locally, and determined it could also benefit her school. More...
