Blowin' in the wind

The prospect of green energy may just be dust in the wind.

Swarthmore College announced last month that it will purchase 35 percent of its energy from wind power, joining the ranks of Penn as one of the largest purchasers of wind energy in Pennsylvania.

Swarthmore's move also signifies a growing trend of universities looking to boost their wind energy programs in an attempt to cut emissions from fossil fuels.

"It makes a statement that renewable energy is important and something possible to do," said Stuart Hain, associate vice president for facilities and services at Swarthmore.

Last spring, Penn tripled its purchase of wind energy, making the University the top college purchaser of wind energy at the time. Currently, 30 percent of the University's energy is obtained from wind power.

Last October, that move was topped by New York University, which now purchases all of its power from wind sources.

NYU is currently the top university wind-purchaser with 118,616,000 killowatt-hours; Penn ranks second at 112,000,000 kWh.

Officials say those two purchases, combined with Swarthmore's latest move, are leading a trend of universities trying to conserve resources through environmentally-friendly wind power acquisitions.

"Colleges are often seen as the thought leaders in terms of leading change," said Byron Woodman, a spokesman for Community Energy, which supplies wind energy to both Penn and Swarthmore. "Where you really see . the ripple effect of Swarthmore's leadership [will be] on other campuses across the country."

Swarthmore's announcement follows year-long negotiations with the student-group Earthlust, which was influenced to call for greater environmental responsibility after Penn increased its purchase of wind energy last spring.

"It was up to us to rise up to [Penn's] standard and do what we could to move even further," said Swarthmore senior Rachel Ackroff, who is a member of Earthlust. "We were really lagging behind in terms of providing leadership."

Despite Swarthmore's newest purchase, Penn Director of Facilities and Services Mike Coleman said the University currently has no plans to increase its own wind energy supply.

However, Coleman added that he is excited to see another local school devote resources to wind energy, and he said that Penn is looking to eventually move toward supplying all of its energy through renewable sources.

Still, some say the higher cost of wind energy could be a potential drawback for universities looking to go green.

Coleman said Penn pays about $200,000 a year extra for wind power versus traditional fossil-fuel sources, an amount that Penn has paid for by making its overall energy system more efficient two years ago.

Swarthmore's purchase will cost an extra $20,000 per year.

And while those figures are often covered by budget surpluses, it's still money that could potentially be used to address other high costs, such as tuition.

But for College junior Michael Poll, the Associate Director of the Penn Environmental Group, the emphasis that Penn is putting on wind energy makes these purchases necessary.

The "sheer size [of Penn's wind power purchase] makes the contribution worthwhile," he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.