Maine college looks for wind energy to buy. Can't find it. Buys it anyway. [View All]

BAR HARBOR, ME-College of the Atlantic, offering one degree in Human Ecology, has been a leader in both education and the environment since it was established 35 years ago. With no walls between disciplines, close mentoring relationships between students and faculty, and education by action as well as thought and study, COA has helped to change the shape of college education. Today, COA takes the lead again, becoming the first college in the nation to make a multi-year commitment to purchasing 100 percent of its electricity through new, renewable sources for the next 20 years.

Believing that finding sources of clean energy is a global necessity beyond dispute, the college has thoroughly investigated all possible power options. Of the options, wind power stands out as the cleanest and most accessible power source on the horizon.

Today, Earth Day, the college is signing two contracts to effectively eliminate its production of CO2 and other pollutants. The first contract is with NativeEnergy, LLC of Charlotte, VT. By purchasing enough renewable energy credits, or "green tags" from NativeEnergy to match one year of its electricity use, the college will help build the first Native American wind farm, being developed on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota. This is an interim contract because there is still no wind power available in the Maine electricity grid.