Bowdoin College, the nationally known liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine, several weeks ago received a $50,000 grant from the state’s Public Utilities Commission to install a solar hot water system.
Bowdoin’s goal is to use the system to offset emissions from its steam-to-water heat exchanger system, which uses natural gas to run the school’s dining hall. The solar hot water system is part of a broader initiative, the Climate Neutrality Implementation Plan (PDF), a strategy to help Bowdoin reach carbon neutrality by 2020. The solar hot water project would fall in the light green category depicted below.
![Bowdoin College Climate Action Plan]( "Bowdoin College Climate Action Plan")
How Bowdoin College Aims to Go Carbon Neutral by 2020
The 960-square-foot, 24-panel solar water heating system will be installed atop Bowdoin’s Thorne Hall, which currently uses about 4,800 gallons of hot water per day — high, relative to the rest of the campus. According to ReVision Energy, a renewable energy consulting firm, during the first 10 years of operation the project will generate roughly 4.16 billion British Thermal Units (BTUs) — an amount of energy that would otherwise need to come from 268 million cubic meters of natural gas purchases.
S. Catherine Longley, Bowdoin’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration & Treasurer, views the solar hot water installation as a key step towards fulfilling the school’s goals. ”The solar hot water project, in conjunction with the installation of a cogeneration facility that also recently received state funding, will help the College move forward in meeting its carbon neutrality goals,” she said.
Read more on Bowdoin’s website.
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