Middlebury’s new Energy2028 plan builds on a history of thinking holistically about sustainability. In 2007, then-President Ron Liebowitz signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, and the campus achieved carbon neutrality within ten years - a story shared in this video. The college has won numerous awards for its integrated approach to sustainability, including campus operations and curriculum. The new integrated plan also includes ambitious targets for using the college endowment’s investment strategy to fight climate change.
Middlebury College recently began construction on a 298-bed, 87,000-sq.-ft. residence hall to house first-year students starting in fall 2025, following a groundbreaking ceremony June 26 at the Vermont campus.
This summer, MiddLab worked with Jack Byrne (Dean of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability; Director of Franklin Environmental Center) and two interns from the Sustainability Solutions Lab (Emily Hogan ‘24 and Oscar DeFrancis ’24.5) to create a codebook for the extensive Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI) dataset that the institution has been developing and using to track emissions at the institution since 2007.
The South Street project can also contribute to a greener future—and lower energy bills—in ways beyond clean power generation. Green Mountain Power (South Street’s utility offtaker) intends to add onsite energy storage, which will make the project’s clean energy even more reliable and cost efficient.1 The pairing of solar plus storage can lower consumer power bills by deploying cheaper saved energy during periods of peak demand and emergencies.
Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., joined representatives from Middlebury College, Encore Renewable Energy, Green Mountain Power (GMP), the state of Vermont, and the town of Middlebury on October 12 to break ground on a new five-megawatt solar project in Middlebury that will provide the College with about 30 percent of its total electricity usage.
Senator Patrick Leahy, (Democrat, Vermont), joined representatives from Middlebury College, Encore Renewable Energy, Green Mountain Power (GMP), the state of Vermont, and the town of Middlebury on October 12 to break ground on a new five-megawatt solar project in Middlebury that will provide the College with about 30 percent of its total electricity usage.
A 30-acre parcel in Middlebury will soon be home to 29,000 solar panels built on trackers that are able to follow the movement of the sun. The panels will provide roughly a third of the electricity needs of the Middlebury College campus, the school said.
