ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Muhlenberg, Lafayette and Dickinson colleges, along with Lehigh University, have committed to a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement.
Muhlenberg College Sustainability Professor Kalyna Procyk says that means the schools will buy renewable energy- generated by a solar farm in Texas- to offset non-renewable energy use.
“For the first time, we're going to be able to neutral out our electricity carbon footprint," says Procyk.
Because of that commitment, a solar field that will span over 200 acres will be added to the nation's electricity grid.
Procyk explains the potential impact.
“The project as a whole per year is going to take off, take 70,000 metric tons of co2 equivalents out of the atmosphere, which is the equivalent of - taking 15,000 cars off the road," says Procyk
Muhlenberg has other sustainability projects on campus. An electric vehicle charging station and a solar-powered laptop, cell phone charging coffee table in the student union. But the solar project is the biggest bet yet.
“A lot of scientists recently have said that in the next 15 years, if we don't reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that we're emitting globally, we're going to have an irrevocable change," says Procyk