Projects & Partnerships

Climate Commitment
Green Mountain College was the first college or university in Vermont to sign the  American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. Through the agreement, colleges pledge to establish policies to achieve carbon neutrality, and then make those policies available to the public. As a Leadership Circle member, Green Mountain College also provides guidance and helps to promote the initiative.

Cow Power
In 2006, Green Mountain College signed up to get more than 50 percent of its electricity from Vermont dairy farms through Central Vermont Power Service's Cow Power Program. This initiative reduces the College's carbon emissions by 3500 metric tons, or the equivalent of removing 758 passenger cars from use for a year.

STAR Rating Program
Green Mountain College is among more than 90 college and university campuses selected to participate in the pilot phase of a rating system for sustainability in higher education. The system, called STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System), is similar to the LEED (Leadership in Energy Environmental Design) green building rating system, except it is applied to an entire campus and evaluates social responsibility as well as environmental stewardship.

STARS is designed to help gauge the progress of colleges and universities toward sustainability in all sectors, from governance and operations to academics and community engagement. Campuses may earn credits in three categories: Curriculum and Research, Operations, and Administration and Finance.

Plug-In Hybrid Study
Green Mountain College is partnering with Central Vermont Public Service to test one of two state-of-the-art plug-in hybrid vehicles purchased by the utility company. The vehicle, a 2007 Toyota Prius, is capable of getting 100 miles per gallon of gas when its new high-capacity battery is fully charged. In an effort led by Prof. Steve Letendre and his students, the College is collecting data and studying the vehicle's performance in a variety of driving conditions.

The plug-in hybrid can be thought of as a regular hybrid car that has been “supercharged.” Thanks to a high-capacity battery, the car can depend more on electric power than gas, dramatically increasing its equivalent miles per gallon. The car plugs into a regular household outlet in the evening, when the electric grid has extra capacity.