AMHERST — UMass Amherst will aim to power its entire 1,500-acre campus with 100% renewable energy and transition to an all-electric vehicle fleet within a decade, university leaders announced Friday, the 53rd annual Earth Day.
In an effort to limit the flagship campus’s contributions to climate change, the university expects to invest $500 million in the UMass Carbon Zero plan, which Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy hopes will serve as a model for other institutions around the world.
Subbaswamy told assembled guests in the Student Union ballroom that the celebration of Earth Day is “tempered” by the threat of climate change, “Yet, as a scientist and an inveterate optimist, I firmly believe we can take meaningful steps to address the current global climate crisis.”
The UMass Amherst campus accounts for 20% of all carbon emissions that come from Massachusetts state buildings and institutions, making it the largest contributor among state entities, Subbaswamy said.
Officials plan to complete the transition to an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2030, while the target date for finishing the project is 2032. A behavior change initiative is expected to promote further voluntary conservation.
The state’s own carbon neutrality target date is 2050, placing UMass Amherst’s timeline nearly 20 years ahead of schedule. UMass Carbon Zero does not include any purchase of carbon offsets.
“Our pioneering work on this complex, large-scale undertaking will have ramifications far beyond the campus,” Subbaswamy said. “Our success in this energy transition will be the commonwealth’s success.”
The first step will be retrofitting 40 buildings to serve as a proof of concept. Then, planners intend to scale up to convert all of the roughly 300 buildings on campus, which total about 13 million square feet.
The university’s fossil fuel-based electricity and steam heating network will be replaced with low-temperature hot water paired with geothermal heating and cooling. Geothermal wells will be drilled under the athletic fields while a thermal solar array and additional solar panels will be added throughout campus.
Geosciences Professor Robert DeConto, a former lead author for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said sustainability research conducted at UMass Amherst “is being impactful on a global scale,” and UMass Carbon Zero will be “a shining example that will prove this is doable.”
Massachusetts, DeConto said, is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the continental U.S. and many parts of the world. There are already observable impacts of that warming, including accelerating sea-level rise and acidification that harms ocean ecosystems, he said.
UMass Carbon Zero will provide a unique training opportunity for the green workers of the future to learn their trade, DeConto said.
“The next green workforce will be going out, throughout the commonwealth and beyond, helping other institutions, both public and private, achieve the same sort of thing that we are going to be embarking upon,” DeConto said. “That’s very important and really wonderful.”
Capital projects manager Ted Mendoza said the plan will reduce campus operational expenses by 20%. The low-temperature hot water and geothermal systems, he said, will make sure “nothing is wasted” because excess energy is stored for later use.
Darci Connor Maresca, assistant director for the School of Earth and Sustainability, said the plan is “primed for investment” and UMass Amherst is seeking financial partnerships and donations to make it a reality.
“Overall, we envision funding as a concerted multiyear effort that engages our diverse sponsors, partners, alumni, companies, utilities and others into developing mutually beneficial partnerships that are fully embraced across the university facets,” Connor Maresca said.
Subbaswamy said UMass Carbon Zero, in the works for the last two years, was inspired by students’ “passionate commitment to the environment” and a campuswide discussion about how to make UMass Amherst a global leader in sustainability.
“The university’s commitment to 100% renewable energy marks a culmination of work and passion from students, faculty and administrators,” saCaroline Sunuwar, a UMass sophomore and a renewable energy campaign coordinator with the environmental group MASSPIRG Students.
The issue has “unified the UMass community,” Sunuwar added.
Steven Goodwin, deputy chancellor and chief planning officer, said UMass Amherst has a storied history of improving sustainability.
“Today, we put a stake into the ground and say that we intend to continue to be a leader in higher ed sustainability and to help shape the future for all of us,” Goodwin said.
Last year, the Sierra Club’s national magazine ranked UMass Amherst No. 18 out of 328 North American schools for its environmental and climate change efforts.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.