U.S. Rep. Michaud takes 'green' tour of college
“What I see happening here at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is definitely going in the right direction,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, during a “green tour” of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Feb. 20.
With ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ President Elaine Tuttle Hansen looking on, Maria Jenness ’07 of Newport, Vt., and Greg Henkes ’08 of Chapel Hill, N.C., show Michaud a bench-scale process that converts used vegetable oil from the College’s dining services to a fuel that can be burned in furnaces for heat.
They and their instructor, Associate Professor of Geology Beverly Johnson, said that ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ hopes eventually to convert all 1,500 gallons of used cooking oil generated by the dining hall each year into biofuel used to heat the College.
Michaud also heard how ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is building its new student housing and dining commons to high standards in energy efficiency, and saw a dining services “scrim line,” where scrap food is scraped and retained for recycling at a pig farm in nearby Poland.
