With Dickinson set to become carbon neutral by 2020, this year’s first-year class is being declared the “Class of Carbon Neutrality,” and by the time they graduate, it is hoped that theirs will be the first Dickinson class to have net zero carbon emissions.

Dickinson’s Climate Action Plan states that Dickinson is committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 25% from 2008 levels, and to offsetting the remaining 75% through funding green power projects and other local, affordable, and equitable initiatives. The Climate Action Plan further commits to flipping the percentage reductions to achieve a 75% reduction in carbon emissions, along with 25% in offsets by 2030.

Dickinson’s carbon neutrality goal entails achieving a net zero carbon footprint by removing from the atmosphere the same amount of carbon that they emit, according to the Oxford University Press’ definition. This can be accomplished by several means, from sequestering carbon by planting trees to offsetting emissions by funding emission reductions elsewhere.

First-years were introduced to Dickinson’s carbon neutrality goal and the Climate Action Plan at a presentation by the Center for Sustainability (CSE) during orientation week. Assistant Director of CSE Lindsay Lyons introduced some campus sustainability initiatives and the Climate Action Plan through a PowerPoint presentation to the class.

“When [Lyons] said Dickinson College has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2020…and people applauded, that for me was the moment…that I was proudest of all the work… that we’ve been doing,” says Jackie Geisler ’17, Communications and Outreach Intern for CSE. “Their applause…to me was affirmation that [the freshman class] was on board, and that was a really special moment to me.”

Dickinson has already begun a number of initiatives to reduce carbon emissions by 2020.

“[One thing we did] is we signed a Power Purchasing Agreement with SolarCity for a 3 megawatt array,” says Lindsay Lyons, assistant director of CSE.  “They are going to put in solar panels by next summer, and we are going start buying electricity from them… So instead of buying dirty electricity, now 20% of it is going to be coming from solar energy just down the street.” The solar array is going to be located to the west of Dickinson Park. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, this initiative is also expected to reduce utility expenditures.

“Another project of ours is modifications to our central energy plant to become a TriGen facility where we are producing electricity as we’re heating and cooling the campus,” says Lyons. “The other thing that it will do is heat and cool the Morgan Field side of campus, which is currently not on the central energy plant; Adams has a big boiler in it, Drayer does, all those buildings do. So we’re going to wipe those out and efficiently heat and cool them on this new system, while we’re producing electricity,” says Lyons.

Dickinson also currently purchases wind power emission reduction credits, which offsets 100% of their greenhouse gas emissions from annual electricity usage. However, Dickinson’s carbon emissions come not only from electricity usage, but from the transportation of faculty and staff, study abroad transportation, waste being sent away and fuel that is burned on campus.

All of these forms of emissions will be either reduced or offset under Dickinson’s Climate Action Plan.

According to UniversityBusiness.com, only a few college campuses have achieved carbon neutrality in the US, and if Dickinson manages to achieve net zero emissions by 2020, it will join this group of colleges that includes Colby College in Maine, College of the Atlantic in Maine, and Green Mountain College in Vermont. Other colleges that are working to achieve carbon neutrality include Colgate University and Bowdoin University, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2019 and 2020 respectively, and Middlebury College, slated to become carbon neutral by the end of this year.