New Climate Action Plan

The academic program represents the core mission of the College. For that reason, the College curriculum and support for research and programming are essential components of Bowdoin’s updated Climate Action Plan. Educating the next generation of leaders about climate change is fundamental to the College’s purpose – and a liberal arts education is uniquely suited to the challenges of understanding climate change and addressing sustainability.  

We “are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet,” as Carl Sagan has argued.  We will need the insights of multiple disciplines and the talents of passionate scholars mobilizing different forms of knowledge to meet this challenge. Addressing climate and sustainability requires rigorous scientific research. But as we see, even innovative and meticulous science is insufficient to tackle the challenges that require collective action toward a common purpose. Instead, climate challenges engage all aspects of human understanding.

We need literature and the visual arts to stimulate our curiosity and compassion to convey the beauty and the fragility of the natural world and to help us imagine alternative futures. We need to learn from history – from the migration of peoples long ago and from more recent struggles – in order to deepen our understanding of this moment. We need ethics and the humility to examine our ideas of what constitutes justice as we make hard choices. We need to engage diverse communities, reaching beyond those who share our experiences or our opinions. We need the linguistic skills and cultural sensitivity to collaborate with and learn from others. We need policy options and legal opinions, persuasive arguments, mathematical models and economic analysis coupled to science and ethics to better understand the merits of alternative paths. To grapple with possible trade-offs in any action to address climate change and to best identify co-benefits in how we enhance sustainability, we must encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative learning across traditional divides.  

Whether in the form of new courses, new topics on syllabi, or learning outside the classroom, there are numerous opportunities for:

• Place-based and community-based learning among coastal communities and those in Maine's natural resource economies on the frontline a changing climate; 
• Integrated learning that encourages multidisciplinary approaches;
• New approaches to data collection and digital analysis, to allow us to better visualize ecological, economic, and social impacts;
• Broader training in ethics, regardless of discipline.

To integrate the College’s academic mission with its effort to address climate change over the next 10 years, we propose the following goals:

1. Raise visibility of our existing climate and sustainability curriculum, scholarship, events and action on campus.

2. Facilitate curriculum development on climate and sustainability issues.

3. Facilitate interdisciplinary research and outreach on climate and sustainability issues.

4. Facilitate data availability in digestible form.

Fostering a culture of sustainability is additionally essential when assessing the big picture of what Bowdoin is trying to achieve with this plan. Making sure Bowdoin’s faculty, staff, and students have an opportunity to learn how they can effectively reduce carbon emissions at Bowdoin and beyond is a critical piece of the College’s climate goals.

Bowdoin’s student Eco Rep program is a peer-to-peer co-curricular campus sustainability education program that consists of approximately 30 paid student employees.  These students foster pro-sustainability behaviors and education throughout campus - in the residence halls, on sports teams, and over the campus radio waves with a weekly podcast.  They explore topics of sustainability through individual actions such as how to compost food waste, conserve energy, and contact their political representatives about important climate related policies.  They also explore topics of sustainability as they relate to food, wellness, and spirituality. Given this level of residence-based educational coverage, it is time to explore additional campus-wide educational methods for increasing the environmental literacy of the College for both students and employees.

Student specific programming for sustainability awareness and behavior change includes:

• Eco Reps and Sustainability Office staff offer training each semester to student club leaders about the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Action Plan and emissions reduction efforts to encourage collaboration between student groups and the Sustainability Office.  For example the frequency of natural disasters in recent years have provided opportunities to collaborate with different student groups on outreach and relief work pertaining to the devastated area.

• Eco Service Day remains a strong way to connect climate concerns, student engagement, and community involvement.  Work with the McKeen Center to develop ideas for expanding Eco Service Day to a wider audience.
• Continue finding ways to incorporate sustainability in the First Year Orientation experience such as offering an Intro to Sustainability at Bowdoin program for experienced Eco Reps to lead during the FY Orientation.
• Work with the McKeen Center to sort volunteer opportunities and partners in correlation with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals—creating this sort of shared index would be a comprehensive step towards a more shared articulation of the Common Good in action.
• The 2009 Climate Action Plan referenced “Climate Day” and devoting time each year to focus on climate related issues and the College’s climate commitment. This is one of the few deliverables from the earlier plan that has yet to be realized.  Offering an annual Climate Day with collaborative education and/or sustainability service projects within the community is recommended. 

At Bowdoin, we understand that a significant part of Sustainability is good governance structures. The College will pay particular attention to ensure that planning and engagement in its governing bodies are inclusive, transparent, and structured to give regular voice to its many stakeholders and thereby create a more sustainable campus community. 

Bowdoin will invest in its formal shared governance bodies through which students, academic, and non-academic staff can regularly participate in the governance of the institution, known as the Bowdoin Student Government.

Included in the Executive Committee of the Bowdoin Student Government is the Chair of Facilities & Sustainability,  whose responsibility is to serve as the voice for green initiatives and general sustainability awareness on the BSG. 

The College will also commit to hosting formal bodies through which external stakeholders such as the local government, educational organizations, neighboring residents, and the civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) have a regular voice in the institutional decisions that affect them. 

While heating Bowdoin’s roughly 2.2 million square feet of building space during the Maine winter is a necessity that keeps our community safe and comfortable, the resulting on-site fuel combustion emissions are by far Bowdoin’s largest source of emissions and must be addressed for any other GHG reductions or behavioral changes to have meaningful impact.  The Sustainability Implementation Committee (SIC) was charged with thinking boldly about how to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) impact from on-site fuel combustion and determined that an engineering study was needed in order to address those emissions.  The College engaged the engineering firm, MEP Associates, in 2019 to assist in planning, pricing and assessing the feasibility of possible solutions, with a goal of becoming a fossil-fuel free campus by 2040. MEP’s recommendation, unanimously supported by SIC, is to switch from the current steam distribution system to one that utilizes low temperature hot water to heat the buildings. This transition is predicted to reduce fuel use by (a significant percentage) - but even more importantly - a low temperature hot water distribution system will allow the campus to switch from a heating system run on fossil fuels to one that utilizes electricity to move heat from the ground or air to meet Bowdoin’s needs. This will be accomplished through the installation of a closed-loop geothermal heat exchange system and an associated energy center, which will produce low-temperature hot water from its heat source deep below ground, to meet heating needs in campus buildings. By doing this, Bowdoin eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels to generate steam on campus and instead will run pumps using sources of renewable electricity to move low temperature hot water throughout campus districts. To keep the geothermal system balanced, Bowdoin will also benefit from using the same pumps to return heat to the ground during hot summer months, which will in turn cool campus buildings. This added cooling benefit will make Bowdoin’s campus more comfortable and resilient in responding to climate change. Xxx utilize language explaining this system from the MEP report, which includes adding air conditioning?  The transition to a low temperature hot water distribution system also leaves the door open to other supplemental technologies that can be used to heat the water, such as solar thermal. The increased dependence on electricity enables more reliance on renewable wind and solar power, as well as the potential for battery storage systems. 

In order for many of Bowdoin’s older buildings to be able to utilize a low temperature hot water system, the building’s heating systems will need to be converted from steam heating systems to low temperature hydronic (water) heating systems.  Those buildings which are already on a hydronic system may have other challenges that will require attention before making this transition.  For many of the older buildings the building envelope will need insulation added, windows upgraded, leaks sealed, and additional radiators installed.  These improvements will provide immediate results — reducing fuel use and increasing occupant comfort. Fortunately, the recent modernization and efficiency investments in the central heating plant and steam distribution system will allow the current steam system to run efficiently while we make these needed upgrades over the next ten years.  

As buildings are deemed ready to heat with hot water, new low temperature hot water and chilled water distribution loops will be installed.  This process can be done in phases, creating distribution loops as a series of buildings are ready for the transition. When campus buildings are transitioned and prepared for a low-temperature hot water heat source, a geothermal heat exchange system will be installed.  A decision was made to build a geo-exchange system that could cover roughly 70-80% of Bowdoin’s heating demand and nearly 100% of its future cooling demand. During the extreme heating days, a peaking system can bridge the gap from what the geo-exchange system is capable of producing.

Actions for reducing on site fuel use (to come out of energy master plan):

• Focus on building envelopes – increase efficiency of buildings to effectively heat with a low temperature hot water system.
• Implement design standards for renovations.
• Convert from legacy steam to modern low temperature hot water heating systems.
• Electrify heating through phased implementation of geothermal heat pump system.
• Install central cooling to balance geothermal system, improve comfort and provide resiliency.

Bowdoin’s fleet is almost entirely gasoline engine vehicles, with a small number of hybrid sedans and one plug-in hybrid electric sedan.  As the College looks ahead to the next ten years we predict that the growth of the electric vehicle market and the likely economies of scale associated with mass production will allow for a dramatic transformation of our fleet toward hybrid and all electric vehicles, converting up to 70% of the current fleet with at least 35% of those being all electric vehicles.    

In addition to considering hybrid and electric fleet vehicles, Bowdoin’s compact nature has allowed Bowdoin’s security department to invest in security officers patrolling the campus on bicycles, a practice we hope to expand to other departments on campus as part of this climate action plan.  The College has made an investment in encouraging a bicycle and pedestrian friendly campus by moving the majority of student vehicle parking away from the center of campus and providing secure bicycle parking next to each of Bowdoin’s buildings for the roughly 500 bicycles registered on campus.  Offering a rental fleet of bicycles to departments located on the edges of campus would allow these employees to efficiently attend meetings or visit job sites without the need of an automobile.  See example at UNH: https://www.unh.edu/sites/default/files/departments/facilities/CMP/2019_3_12_nnecerappa_unh_dept_bikes_.pdf 

Climate Action Plan Vehicle Fleet Goals:

• Transition up to 70% of Bowdoin fleet to hybrid and electric vehicles with at least 35% of those being all-electric.

• Promote non-motorized transportation by exploring the feasibility of institutionalizing bicycles into the College vehicle fleet.  

The climate plan goals for Bowdoin’s scope 2 emissions are twofold.  While the College implemented a significant number of electric efficiency projects across campus since the last climate plan was written, contributing to an 18 percent decrease in electricity consumption, the College will continue to pursue remaining efficiency projects on campus, and at the same time focus on supplying 100% Maine based renewable electricity to campus. 

In the spring of 2018 Bowdoin entered into a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement, for roughly 8,000 MWhs per year of solar generation, or roughly forty-five percent of Bowdoin’s current electricity load. As we look to reach the goal of 100% Maine based renewable electricity use, Bowdoin will make additional commitments to solar generation in Maine in 2020. Maine recently launched a new incentive program for solar projects to receive utility bill credits in exchange for solar generation put onto the electricity grid. Bowdoin will participate in Maine’s new program with a commitment to host a 5 MW solar array on Bowdoin’s property at the former Naval Air Base in Brunswick. Bowdoin will be receiving both the utility bill credits and RECs generated by this project. Beyond the system at the naval air base, Bowdoin is partnering with a consortium of Maine-based public and private institutions to contract directly with over 20 different solar systems (and a few small hydro facilities) located throughout the state, which will be built over the next two years. By similarly committing to buying the utility bill credits and RECs associated with the generation from these projects, Bowdoin’s participation results in a win-win project for Bowdoin, partner institutions, and solar project developers.  Combined, the naval air base project and the offsite consortium purchases will result in Bowdoin meeting 100% of its current electricity needs through Maine-based renewable energy. 

The aforementioned campus heating plan utilizing geothermal, low temperature hot water, and chilled water relies heavily upon electrification, as do plans to increase electric vehicles at Bowdoin. The College anticipates an intended increase in electricity use as projects to electrify the heating and transportation systems are completed. To offset the growth, the college will increase the amount of renewables in Bowdoin’s electricity portfolio by hosting solar arrays on campus and contracting with Maine-based solar partners. 

As Bowdoin considers additional investments in our own renewable energy purchases, the state of Maine also passed legislation in 2019 that increased the level of renewable electricity required on Maine’s grid through the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). Under the newly adopted RPS goals renewable resources must account for 80% of all electric sales by 2030, and 100% by 2050, up from a 40% requirement in 2019.  Bowdoin’s drive to electrify the campus heating load has been motivated by these combined efforts of the College’s future investments in solar and the state’s pro-renewable legislation, making the target of fossil-fuel free building operations achievable within the foreseeable future. 

Climate Action Plan Scope 2 Electricity Use Goals:

• Based on the success of the 2009 Climate Plan, continue to implement energy efficiency projects such as lighting, variable frequency drive projects, as well as the purchase of Energy Star rated appliances.
• Contract for 100% Maine based renewable energy in 2020. 

All campus air travel emissions are currently offset with the College’s overall purchases of carbon offsets, coordinated by the Sustainability Office.  To address emissions from employee air travel, the college will continue to promote virtual technology for meetings and research collaboration.  Increasing use of technologies such as Zoom and GoToMeeting are being used and should be encouraged as a means of reducing air travel.  In 2016 the college built a state-of-the-art telepresence classroom to provide Bowdoin students and faculty with the ability to connect with classrooms and speakers from around the world from a classroom in the Bowdoin library.   The college will also explore how to attach the purchase of carbon offsets with the price of a college sponsored ticket purchase, transferring the cost to the department booking the flight, rather than the current method of offsetting all air travel as part of a one time annual campus carbon offset purchase handled by the Sustainability Office.  Assigning the carbon offset price to the individual ticket purchase and associated department is an opportunity for education, conversation, and behavior change. Much as students are unaware of the College’s investment in renewable energy because there is little evidence of it on campus, many employees are unaware of some of the measures taken to attain carbon neutrality and curtail emissions because there are no specific markers in their daily operations. 

Air Travel Emissions Reduction Actions:

• Where practical, continue to promote virtual meetings and the College’s telepresence classroom as a means of decreasing air travel. 
• Create opportunity for education, conversation, and behavior change regarding air travel by transferring the cost of Bowdoin’s current carbon offsets for air travel onto the department purchasing the flight rather than from the annual campus carbon offset purchase by the Sustainability Office.

Addressing the Scope 3 emissions created by employee commuting requires a bigger-picture approach than addressing air travel emissions, but as commuting emissions are approximately double the air travel emissions, new solutions must be explored. Where employees live and commute to Bowdoin from are determined by many factors, thus there are challenges to what the College can do to comprehensively address the Scope 3 emissions relating to employee commuting. The College initiative to limit the number of students living off-campus, within the immediate neighborhood, has the potential to expand and improve the rental market for employees.  The college is also supporting a statewide goal of converting Mainers from gas powered to electric powered vehicles with the addition of four new charging ports for electric vehicle drivers, bringing the total number of charging ports to six. In addition to these stated actions the Climate Plan encourages the following suggestions:

• Continue supporting the Metro Breez bus between Brunswick, Freeport, Yarmouth and Portland and encourage managers to work with employees to balance work shifts around the bus schedule. 
• Continue promoting programs such as the GO MAINE Commuter Challenge that encourages employees who live near campus to walk or bike and those who live further away to carpool and utilize public transit.
• Explore opportunities for desirable hybrid or electric transportation opportunities for students within Brunswick and Topsham such as an improved shuttle system or trolley down Maine Street and out toward the Topsham Fair Mall.
• Revisit opportunities for a Bowdoin RideShare App that can assist students finding rides for trips off campus and getting to and from home on college breaks.
• Continue to assess need for additional electric vehicle charging stations that employees can access, limiting “range anxiety” for employees who commute to work in electric vehicles. 
• Remain aware of and connected to increased public transportation and affordable housing expansion within Brunswick.  Sharing this information could aid in attracting and retaining potential and current employees.  

Bowdoin’s GHG emissions from waste are a small portion of Bowdoin’s total emissions inventory but waste is an important sustainability metric that the college tracks each year and is indicative of other pro-environmental behavior on campus.  Any actions that reduce waste, increase reuse, recycling, and composting should continue to remain a campus priority.  Recent successful examples include the establishment of Bowdoin’s Office Supply Reuse Shop, managed by the Set-Up and Moves department.  Forty-three different people have reused over $2,300 worth of supplies in the first year of operation.  In a similar vein of reuse, the College’s Give and Go Move Out program rescued nearly 40,000 pounds of reusable goods from the waste stream during the student move-out in May of 2019.  While the College continues the trend of recycling and composting more of Bowdoin’s waste stream, developing ways to reduce all categories of waste would be a more sustainable long-term goal that would help reduce Bowdoin’s GHG emissions.  Suggestions from student focus groups have centered on the following ideas:

• Increase awareness of what can be recycled at Bowdoin.  Place information directly on recycle bins for users to reference.
• Purchases and requests for new office furniture should be made only after nothing workable has been found in the Warehouse.
• Create a permanent donation center/Free Store on campus to encourage up-cycling and reuse by students, faculty and staff and potentially serve as a central “lost and found” for campus. 
• Encourage e-books and online resources, but not requiring students to print them out for courses. If physical copies are needed in the classroom, physical books and course packets may be a better alternative since they are better shared and reused.
• Increase compost opportunities on campus in locations such as the Smith Union to divert items like the compostable to-go boxes, straws, napkins, and cups from going into the garbage.
• Increase compost opportunities at medium to large events on campus, both indoors and outdoors.
• Continue to explore ways to further reduce food waste at Bowdoin.
• Increase opportunities and awareness regarding public transportation to shopping locations such as the Topsham Fair Mall, Cook’s Corner and Freeport, etc. with a goal of reducing shipping and associated packaging waste of online purchases.

In emergencies, the most important part of continued functionality of campus is to have effective and consistent communication.

• Following the 2017 storm, a generator was added to power Smith Union, Sargent Gym, and Morrell Gym as additional spaces for students in power outage emergencies. This also increases the College’s ability to be a community refuge should that need arise. 
• Updates to the OneCard access system are necessary to maintain proper building access and security in emergencies.
• Staff and faculty, not living on campus, may be in difficult circumstances during weather emergencies and natural disasters and must be encouraged to make decisions for their personal safety without concern for workplace repercussions. 

• Staff being notified of campus closures and weather emergencies prior to beginning their commutes to/from campus—with particular care to those who arrive early, leave late and commute long distances for their jobs.
• Creation of a uniform policy on cancelling classes, communicating that to all, how that lost Academic time is consistently addressed, and fostering awareness of the emotional stress and strain of emergency conditions on educational capacity would be wise. Faculty have previously been tasked to decide to hold or cancel their classes in buildings and rooms on campus of which they cannot personally verify the safety or suitability.
• Security, Facilities, Dining, Residential Life and Administrative staff will be supported and encouraged to put the responsibilities of their lives outside of work ahead of responsibilities to their jobs in emergencies and extended power outages. Allowances will be made to ensure the smooth operation of the College throughout an emergency, recognizing that reliance on the goodwill of staff to go above and beyond their stated duties is neither equitable nor sustainable. 

Stormwater management is a basic way to improve campus in the face of increased storms. Doing so decreases flooding hazards in local roadways—allowing for safer passage and faster recovery—and further protects drinking water supplies, rivers, and waterways from contamination from runoff. 

• Incorporating stormwater management designs such as bioswales and raingardens in all landscaping and building construction—as at the Roux Center—allows the increasingly limited green spaces of campus to retain and hold excess rain and snow melt as will increase with climate change.

• Designing buildings that recirculate their retained rain water for non-potable uses is highly recommended in new and renovated buildings as it reduces unnecessary demands on the local potable water supply. 

• Embracing native and drought resistant plantings within the College landscaping—rather than decorative annuals or ornamentals—will reduce the need for irrigation infrastructure and labor, as well as connect campus more fully to the local ecology and provide helpful habitat for dwindling bee, bat and bird populations. 
• The Roux Center has also demonstrated the viability of permeable paved surfaces. This mitigates runoff, debris, and other factors of storm drain blockage, thereby alleviating the severity of flooding in streets, parking lots, and walking paths. 

• Mitigating pollution in road runoff additionally reduces the pollutants in local waterways.
• Bowdoin taking responsibility for retaining and recycling Campus storm water reduces the water loads on the Town of Brunswick roads and water infrastructure. 

• Winter and the necessary removal of snow and ice present resiliency challenges. Salting and sanding are crucial for safety, although salt damages buildings, and percolates through the soil to damage trees, and corrode underground pipes. Machine snow removal compacts dirt, negatively impacting tree health—and unhealthy trees are more susceptible to both storm and disease. 

• To safeguard the investment in underground geothermal infrastructure, additional non-corrosive de-icing solutions must be found and used. 

• Campus accessibility is adversely impacted by puddling and flooding of walking paths, driveways, parking lots and road ways, which will only increase with climate change. Using routine maintenance to gradually upgrade all these surfaces to permeable pavement ensures that Bowdoin becomes a place accessible to all, in all seasons.

• The last few major storms have been October wind and rain storms. The temperatures and weather, following each, have been mercifully seasonal, allowing for a thermally safe outage, clean-up and recovery period. Additional emergency management plans and scenarios must be devised and communicated for the distinct challenges of a winter blizzard/ice storm, spring rainstorm with meltwater, or summer storm or heatwave. Each are climatically likely, and each require addressing different campus concerns and populations (students during a February ice storm, Maine State Music Theater patrons in an August tropical storm, etc.)
• Invasive species and changing disease profiles are also threats to the Bowdoin community. The warming trend of summer, and the increase in tick populations and tick-born illness present new challenges to the health of campus. Being aware of and conversant in these trends will help to guide necessary health and mitigation actions as time goes on. 

• As necessary, work with the Health Center to develop a specific taskforce and protocol for health and wellness during weather events and/or disease outbreaks. 

• The move towards geothermal heat exchange, which requires that the heat pulled from the ground in winter be balanced by cool in summer, ensures that campus buildings will become air-conditioned as this project comes on line. As well as providing a more comfortable working and living environment in Maine’s hot and humid summers, the geothermal cooling will prevent otherwise inescapable damage to campus structures via the mold and rot that would flourish in these same hotter, humid conditions. 
• SIC further recommends the College coordinate with the Town of Brunswick on resiliency planning and disaster preparedness to create a more regional resiliency response plan.