In 2019, Lafayette College published the Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2.0 with the intent of achieving carbon-neutrality by the year 2035. Although it is not the first CAP in higher education, nor within Lafayette itself, the CAP’s presence remains highly relevant and promises that another community will take action to combat the ever-worsening effects of climate change. Many colleges and universities hope that by reducing their carbon footprint, they can aid in the worldwide effort to decrease the number of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Lafayette College has been making efforts towards sustainability even before the early 2000s. In the year 2008, the school developed its first CAP, which resulted in a twenty percent reduction in carbon emissions between 2008 and 2017 (2019 Climate Action Plan, 2019, p.6). Then, in 2017, and motivated by President Alison Byerly’s support for the Paris Agreement through the “We Are Still in Pledge,” Lafayette College began the development of an updated plan to reduce its carbon footprint (Office of Sustainability, 2018, p. 6). Now, after two years of planning and editing, Lafayette’s CAP 2.0 is ready for use and filled with a variety of recommendations that seem feasible for Lafayette. Many of the proposed solutions are already in progress on campus. Some of the new proposals are known for their success in other schools, while others are more modern techniques and therefore less studied. For this project, our team will be looking at the technique known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), and the ways it can be effectively used by the college.
The Concept behind CCS
To understand the implementation of CCS and how it works, one must understand the basics of the carbon cycle. In short, the carbon cycle is the continuous process of carbon leaving the atmosphere, being stored on Earth, and then later released back into the atmosphere. Storing of carbon is found in an assortment of reservoirs, including oceans, living organisms, and the Earth itself; carbon can release through processes such as decomposition or the burning of fossil fuels (NOAA, 2019, n.p.). The Carbon Cycle “maintain[s] a balance that prevents all of Earth’s carbon from entering the atmosphere or from being stored entirely in rocks. This balance helps keep Earth’s temperature relatively stable” (Riebeek, 2011, n.p.). As the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere begins to overwhelm the amount absorbed, it has become significantly more pressing to develop tactics to reduce and remove the excess CO2.
Various industrialized technologies and organic strategies can perform the process of CCS. Industrialized techniques capture CO2 from the atmosphere through a variety of techniques before it gets transported to another location and stored beneath the Earth’s surface in geological formations (Carbon capture, 2019, n.p.). Organic methods follow the carbon cycle, typically relying on the natural processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in sinks such as plants, soil, and the ocean (Thompson, A., 2012, n.p.). By improving conditions of natural sinks, or by increasing the number in existence, humans can assist this natural process by increasing its efficiency. As specified in the CAP, Lafayette College will be looking into the use of organic CCS methods, specifically those possibly applied at the Metzgar complex.
The Project
The CAP 2.0 states that in Phase 2 (2021-2025), Lafayette College wants to “Achieve carbon neutrality at Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex” to “expand its status as a living laboratory, providing opportunities for hands-on education in carbon-efficient technology and sustainable design” (2019 Climate Action Plan, 2019, p.14). In other words, the project will serve as a micro model that Lafayette College can use as valuable feedback for the whole college.
Metzgar Fields, a college-owned property, is located about three miles northwest of the College Hill campus. The sports complex is part of this 80-acre plot of land. It houses buildings and fields for Lafayette College’s varsity sports teams, as well as intramural and recreational programs. Two of the main buildings located on the property are the Kamine Varsity House, which contains the men’s and women’s locker rooms, varsity team rooms, and training and medical spaces, and the Morel Field house (Metzgar Fields, 2019, n.p.). The plot of land also contains one of Lafayette’s popular sustainability efforts, LaFarm. The college directly operates the three-acre space and provides products that the dining halls use, it is sold on campus and donated to the Easton community (Office of Sustainability, 2018, p.5). Together, LaFarm’s greenhouse, the athletic buildings on the property, stadium lights, and the maintenance technologies used regularly are significant consumers of electricity. In 2017, electricity production accounted for 27.5 percent of the United States’ GHG emissions, making it one of the most significant GHG producers, second only to the transportation sector. According to the EPA, “approximately 62.9 percent of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal and natural gas” (Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 2019, n.p.). As a result, Metzgar’s heavy energy consumption contributes noticeably to Lafayette’s overall carbon footprint. To successfully use Metzgar as a demonstration of Lafayette’s capabilities of achieving carbon neutrality, Lafayette needs to begin implementing changes that can lead to balancing out the complex’s net emissions.
This project has considered two alternatives that approach carbon storage at a level feasible for the small size of Lafayette. One option is the use of no-till agriculture, cover crops, perennial cropping systems, and other organic farming techniques to improve soil quality and increase the land’s ability to store carbon. This technique would be particularly applicable at LaFarm since the organization already uses techniques of a similar type. Another potential alternative that Lafayette College could undertake is reforestation. Forests play a significant role in the environment: “They regulate ecosystems, protect biodiversity, play an integral part in the carbon cycle, support livelihoods, and supply goods and services that can drive sustainable growth” (Forests and Climate Change, 2019, n.p.). According to Mary Booth, an ecologist at the Massachusetts-based Partnership for Policy Integrity, when it comes to drawing down carbon, “forests are the only proven, scalable technology we have” (Elbein, S., 2019, n.p.). Given the large amount of unused land on the Metzgar Athletics Complex, Lafayette has the capability of decreasing its net emissions by growing its own forest. Planting trees at other locations, including the walkway at Metzgar that leads from the parking lot to Oak’s Stadium, within LaFarm, and potentially even in spots that are on campus.
Our group has taken the first steps towards achieving this critical goal. In our project, we have considered the feasibility and cost of obtaining carbon-neutrality at the Metzgar Athletic Complex through the alternatives previously mentioned. By looking at the social, political, technical, and economic contexts, we hope to provide an analysis that can serve as a starting point when Lafayette College and the Office of Sustainability take the next steps to achieve their end goal.
To learn about why this is a relevant issue, click here to learn about the Social Context.