The University of Notre Dame has announced it will cease burning coal within 5 years.
The University is big – so big it has its own power generation facilities that supply around half of its needs.
Electricity is produced on-site from ten generators; five of which are steam-driven turbines and five are diesel engine-driven generators.
According to SourceWatch Notre Dame’s power stations generated 172,725 tons of emissions in 2007; but the University has reduced its use of coal from 85 percent to 15 percent in recent years with the shift to gas turbines. Energy efficiency strategies have also seen the University’s energy usage per square foot of facilities reduced by nearly 23 percent since 2008.
Coal’s days are numbered at the University – and there is now an end date.
Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame, announced earlier this week the institution will cease burning coal entirely within five years, plus cut its carbon footprint by more than half by 2030.
“In recognition of both Pope Francis’ encyclical and his visit this week to the United States, Notre Dame is recommitting to make the world a greener place, beginning in our own backyard,” Rev. Jenkins said.
Pope Francis’ recent encyclical had a strong focus on climate change.
“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it,” said the Pope.
Rev. Jenkins has obviously heard the call.
The University will use more gas-fired power generation in the near term and develop other energy sources in the longer term.
“We are seeing that through greater investment in things like wind energy and solar energy, that the cost of that energy is rapidly declining. That’s good news for American businesses and American consumers,” he said. “It also happens to be good news for our planet.”
Notre Dame plans to invest $113 million in renewable energy sources and projects; including hydro, solar power systems and geothermal fields; both on and off campus. These projects alone will collectively slash carbon emissions by 47,500 tons.
