After almost 80 years of burning coal, Penn State has announced plans to upgrade the West Campus Steam Plant and look at alternatives to coal beginning next year, with construction starting as early as 2012.
Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman Paul Ruskin said the upgrade will cost at least $200 million, leading the university to consider a staged switch from one type of fuel to another over a few years. But he expects this shift to impact the university for decades to come.
"We look at this as a 100-year decision," he said.
Ruskin said the university has a rolling master plan that has been revisited each year since its 2005 inception. Because of increasing public interest in alternatives to coal, OPP decided to go public with its plan for the eventual upgrade of the plant.
Though the plant -- which heats most of the buildings between College and Park Avenues and Atherton Street and University Drive -- is well maintained and operates efficiently, less environmentally harmful coal alternatives are now available, Ruskin said.
Penn State burns about 75,000 tons of coal per year, and the total number of tons burned in the United States every year is 1 billion tons. The overall goal of the upgrade is to reduce emissions by 17.5 percent by the year 2012, he said.
Nathaniel Meyer, a campus organizer with the Sierra Club -- an environmental organization that currently runs a Beyond Coal campaign at 11 universities nationwide -- said OPP's announcement was "a huge step for Penn State as a clean energy leader."
Meyer said although the steam plant operates efficiently, Penn State should move away from coal as it contributes to environmental issues like global warming and acid rain.
"Every step of the process is incredibly dangerous, not only to the communities where it's mined but the communities where it's burned," he said. "Coal is really, really destructive, and Penn State shouldn't be associated with it."
Penn State Beyond Coal leader Rose Monahan agrees -- coal needs to be replaced by renewable energy options, ranging from solar and wind energy to biofuels to geothermal technology.
"We are literally the last generation that has the opportunity to fight global warming," Monahan (sophomore-political science and English) said. "Those that come after us will be too late. While it will require an investment in renewable energy options, the cost of doing nothing is absolutely too high to even consider."
The Sierra Club and Penn State Beyond Coal will meet with President Graham Spanier today in Old Main to discuss energy upgrades and how students and faculty can be involved in the process.
"We aim to hear strong commitments from President Spanier," Monahan said. "To truly combat global warming, we will need to end our dependence on coal within the next 30 to 40 years."
But despite its cons, Ruskin said coal heating is very reliable, something that must be true of a future energy source as well.
"Technology that heats the buildings needs to be there 24/7," Ruskin said. "It is an absolutely critical utility to operation of the university, and it's crucial to important research."
