Mount Wachusett Community College - Sustainability

Sustainability

The college has been praised for its use of renewable energy, winning the National Wildlife Federation's "Chill-Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming" competition in the spring of 2007.

Renewable energy technologies at the college include: Solar PhotoVoltaic panels originally producing 5 kilowatts and upgraded to 97.24 kilowatts in September 2009. and a biomass plant which heats the college by burning waste woodchips.

The college also uses a biomass gasification generator, where woodchips are turned into combustible gases, which are used in a gasoline engine, powering a generator that produces 50 kilowatts of electricity. This is a research and development project contracted with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Two Vestas V82 1.65 MW wind turbines were activated in March 2011 which are expected to generate 97 percent of the college's annual electricity demand.

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