Renewable Fuel Oil – News

�ֲ��ý College attains carbon neutrality ahead of schedule

Doug Hubley — Thu, 16 May 2019 08:00:59 +0000

A year ahead of its announced commitment, �ֲ��ý College has become carbon neutral.

Measured against a 2001 baseline, �ֲ��ý has eliminated 95 percent of its campus greenhouse gas emissions, and will purchase carbon offsets for the remainder. In its Climate Action Plan, announced nine years ago, �ֲ��ý committed to hitting this important milestone by 2020.

Reaching the goal early is a measure of the college’s determination and leadership in combating climate change, and in sustainability overall. Out of some 700 U.S. colleges and universities to sign a carbon-neutrality pledge in 2007, �ֲ��ý is one of only seven to date that have reached that goal.

“This achievement shows �ֲ��ý at its best,” says �ֲ��ý President Clayton Spencer. “Our mission statement calls for responsible stewardship of the wider world, and at this point in our history on this planet, there is no higher need than addressing climate change.

“More important, we have met this goal through shared effort, commitment, and creativity by the entire college community with students leading the way.”

Broadly speaking, �ֲ��ý worked on three fronts to shrink its carbon footprint: reducing energy consumption through efficiency measures; strengthening the culture of sustainability on campus; and switching to renewable energy sources — most important, Renewable Fuel Oil (RFO), a wood-derived liquid that’s now the primary fuel for the college’s central heating plant.

“These efforts are a win-win for �ֲ��ý:��The college has reduced waste and achieved carbon neutrality in a manner that makes sound financial sense.”

Largely because of the impact of RFO, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education ranked �ֲ��ý fourth in the world for its clean energy program in 2017.

“�ֲ��ý has successfully integrated behavioral change into the everyday patterns of the college and adapted innovative energy solutions into the very core of campus operations,” says Geoff Swift, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer.

“Together, these efforts are a win-win for �ֲ��ý: The college has reduced waste and achieved carbon neutrality in a manner that makes sound financial sense.”

From its baseline in 2001, �ֲ��ý chipped away at its carbon emissions, gaining major strides after 2005 by purchasing green electricity and, starting in 2017, by using Renewable Fuel Oil in its campus boilers.

“I chose �ֲ��ý because of its sustainability programs,” says Tamsin Stringer ’22 of Bloomington, Ind. Stringer is a member of both the college’s EcoReps, a student task force for green initiatives on campus, and its Committee on Environmental Responsibility, a faculty, staff, and student group that charted �ֲ��ý’ course toward carbon neutrality.

Stringer attended the CER meeting earlier this month where senior staff revealed that �ֲ��ý would achieve neutrality ahead of schedule. “I felt proud to be going to �ֲ��ý,” she says. “The fact that a school can take an initiative like that and uphold its commitment is just really inspiring to me.”

Tom Twist, �ֲ��ý’ sustainability manager, estimates that nearly two-thirds of the emissions reduction is attributable to, first, �ֲ��ý’ switch to renewable sources of electricity, in 2005; and second, to efficiency and conservation measures overseen by college energy manager John Rasmussen.

EcoReps, a student task force for green initiatives on campus, have been integral to the college’s march toward carbon neutrality. In 2017, these EcoReps, Isa Moise ’19, Beanie O’Shea ’18, Hannah Slattery ’18, and George Fiske ’19, posed for a portrait to demonstrate the proper use of new waste systems on campus. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ��ý College)

All told, these efficiency measures have reduced the college’s utility bills by more than $1 million annually. These include the replacement of virtually all campus lighting with LED lamps; enhancing building insulation and replacing windows across campus with better-sealed units; and acquiring technology that enables much more precise, and therefore energy-saving, monitoring and control for HVAC and other electrical draws.

The remaining emissions were eliminated mostly by converting to fossil-free fuels, notably the adoption of the new fuel oil for the steam plant that heats most of the campus — more than a million square feet of interior space. RFO, produced by the Canadian firm Ensyn, is created from forest industry byproducts in a chemical reaction that, once started, is largely fueled by its own byproducts.

In 2017, the college started burning RFO in one of the steam plant’s three boilers. This year, �ֲ��ý converted a second boiler, ensuring that RFO is virtually the only heat source for buildings served by the central plant.

�ֲ��ý is the only U.S. educational institution using RFO for heat, and one of only three U.S. institutions of any kind that heat with it.

Key to the college becoming carbon neutral is using Renewable Fuel Oil for heat, and �ֲ��ý is the only U.S. educational institution doing so. Here, scaffolding surrounds the new RFO tank in January 2017. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Harder to quantify but essential to �ֲ��ý’ achievement is a campus culture dedicated to sustainability, as well as social justice, which for many at �ֲ��ý go hand in hand.

The academic curriculum includes an interdisciplinary environmental studies program that integrates the natural sciences and humanities, and immerses students in community-engaged research and action.

Students drive a number of environmental organizations on campus — notably the EcoReps, overseen by sustainability manager Twist, a program that gives its members both the practical and interpersonal skills to make things happen on campus and in life after �ֲ��ý.

The greenhouse gas emissions chart that the college has used to track progress toward neutrality, for example, was created by EcoReps, Twist points out.

Previously, aside from a professional assessment performed in 2009, “it was just a blank map. We had no idea where we were. So we had students work on it for two years, and they filled it in,” Twist explains. “And they actually did a better job than the paid consultants.”

Students are “basically embedded in every single sustainability project that we’re doing, and they’re doing real work,” says Tom Twist, the college’s sustainability manager, seen during a recent meeting of the Committee on Environmental Responsibility. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

As far back as 2014, if not longer, �ֲ��ý faculty have invited students to play a role in the carbon-neutrality effort through their work in class.

For instance, for their capstone project in environmental studies, two 2018 graduates conducted research into carbon offsets — verified programs that ameliorate atmospheric carbon through various means — that informed �ֲ��ý’ current neutrality plan. (�ֲ��ý is purchasing offsets that support the capture of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as it escapes from landfills, diverting it for energy production.)

“I haven’t seen any other school trust its students as much as we do with sustainability work.”

“I was very excited about this wealth of information that we had at our fingertips and about our realization that we had many affordable options to reach carbon neutrality,” says one of those alumnae, Caitlin Keady of Kamloops, British Columbia.

“I felt empowered by this work and by the knowledge that with a bit of research and a few late nights I could help change the way �ֲ��ý prioritizes sustainability,” says Keady, who will start working toward a master’s in environmental engineering this fall. “I acquired a vast range of skills as an EcoRep, from leadership and presentation techniques to data analysis and report writing. I grew a tremendous amount as an aspiring professional in this field.”

EcoReps George Fiske ’19, Brent Feldman ’17, and Katharine Gaillard ’19 install solar panels at the college’s Coastal Center at Shortridge in October 2016. The center is now 100 percent solar. (Tom Twist/�ֲ��ý College)

“I haven’t seen any other school trust its students as much as we do with sustainability work,” says Twist. “They’re basically embedded in every single sustainability project that we’re doing, and they’re doing real work.”

He adds, “You hear tons of bad news about climate change every day, but you don’t hear a lot of coverage on what to do about it, and that makes people very depressed and hopeless. We’re showing students a viable pathway for how to do this.”

In fact, the entire campus community benefits from �ֲ��ý’ inclusive approach to green action. “In terms of sustainability,” he says, “�ֲ��ý has a really deep bench.”

“�ֲ��ý has stepped up, taken responsibility for its carbon footprint, and done so in a way that should be a model for other institutions.”

Initiatives like the Green Innovation Grants program keep the interest high among staff, faculty, and students alike. And the CER, legislated into existence in 2007 and currently chaired by physics professor Travis Gould, “is in a unique position to address higher-level sustainability policy,” says Twist.

“That was the group that leveraged what we knew about carbon neutrality and suggested that we advise senior staff that we were within striking distance of neutrality.”

“�ֲ��ý has stepped up, taken responsibility for its carbon footprint, and done so in a way that should be a model for other institutions,” says Gould. “It’s been a process of years, and I want to recognize the contributions of faculty — in teaching, research, and leadership — that helped get us to this point. This really has been a collective effort.”

A recent poll of the �ֲ��ý campus community showed that virtually the entire student body, and 96 percent of staff and faculty, supported the college’s attainment of carbon neutrality by 2020.

Slightly more than half of first-year students polled by the college Admission office said that they — like Tamsin Stringer — were attracted to �ֲ��ý by its commitment to environmental sustainability.

Like Tamsin Stringer ’22, an EcoRep from Bloomington, Ind., seen attending a meeting of the college’s Committee on Environmental Responsibility, many current students choose to attend �ֲ��ý for its sustainability programs. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

After peaking in 2003, �ֲ��ý’ greenhouse gas emissions dropped dramatically in 2005, the year the college began sourcing all of its electricity from wind power. In 2007, the year �ֲ��ý joined the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, emissions were less than half of the 2003 high-water mark.

Between campus-wide efficiency measures and the sharp reduction made possible by the switch to RFO, emissions plummeted again starting in 2015 — all this despite the addition of some 200,000 square feet of building space to the campus since 2001.

�ֲ��ý is relying only minimally on the purchase of carbon offsets to attain carbon neutrality. The college will spend about $7,000 annually to offset fossil-fueled heat in certain buildings and travel to and from campus, including air travel for student study abroad and faculty research trips.

Campus Construction Update: Jan. 18, 2019

Doug Hubley — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 18:52:30 +0000

It’s likely, says �ֲ��ý’ sustainability manager, that a recent update to the campus heating plant will put the college “right on the cusp of carbon neutrality.”

Historically powered by fossil fuels — namely natural gas and fuel oil — the plant produces steam that heats buildings across the central campus, totaling about 1.1 million square feet.

Going online in 2017, one of the plant’s three boilers was reconfigured to burn a sustainable forest product called Renewable Fuel Oil — thereby reducing �ֲ��ý’ fossil carbon emissions by roughly 80 percent from 2001 levels.

This week, in an exciting sequel to that development, a second boiler began burning RFO. And this step will reduce �ֲ��ý’ overall greenhouse-gas emissions by another 15 percent. That is, the college’s emissions will total a mere 5 percent of that 2001 baseline, according to an estimate from sustainability manager Tom Twist.

The round green panels are the locations of the two Renewable Fuel Oil burners in the campus steam plant. The first burner was installed on Boiler No. 1, at left, two years ago. The second, on Boiler No. 2, just went into service. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

In conjunction with other conservation efforts, including measures that have cut campus electricity consumption by more than a third since mid-decade, RFO heat brings �ֲ��ý tantalizingly close to its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2020.

RFO is manufactured by the Canadian company Ensyn Technologies. It’s refined from a biocrude oil produced through a proprietary process of applying extreme heat to sawdust in an oxygen-free environment. (Another product of the biocrude is the kitchen condiment Liquid Smoke.)

Because the biocrude process, once started, is self-fueled, and because the biocrude is created from forest industry waste products (from sustainably grown trees, no less), burning RFO returns virtually no previously sequestered fossil carbon to the atmosphere. (Over the course of a year, transporting RFO to �ֲ��ý from the refinery in Renfrew, Ontario, produces about 134 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents. But substituting RFO for gas reduces �ֲ��ý’ emissions by 3,000 MTCDE.)

Boiler No. 1 in November 2016, prior to its conversion for burning Renewable Fuel Oil. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

As retrofitted for RFO, the two �ֲ��ý boilers use virtually identical technology. But they don’t look alike. Borrowing a term from navel engineering, No. 1 is an outie: the burner is housed in a big cylindrical projection on the boiler’s front door. Adding to the bulk was a new housing for the forced-draft fan that pushes heated air through the boiler, that sits alongside that extension.

In contrast, the new installation, on No. 2, is an innie. That’s because the equipment fabricator, Preferred Utilities Manufacturing of Danbury, Conn., designed the burner to fit in the existing door with minimal modification. (So there was no need to relocate the original forced-draft fan from its mounting on the door — and there was no changeover to an induced-draft fan, as we erroneously reported in an earlier edition of this post.)

Port City Mechanical of Portland, Maine, installed the new equipment.

John Rasmussen, �ֲ��ý’ energy manager, notes another difference between the original 2017 installation and the new one: Preferred Manufacturing retuned the burner to achieve a lower minimum operating temperature — think of it as the boiler “idling” when its full output isn’t needed — thereby saving fuel.

Rasmussen says that during the coldest days of a normal winter, heating the campus will require one of the RFO boilers running at full capacity and the other at half-power. He explains, “Boiler 1 will be the lead while the other picks up the slack, and then maybe after a couple of weeks you make Boiler 2 the lead, and Boiler 1 picks up the slack.

“But in any case, the goal is to meet 99 percent of the heating demand [on the portion of campus served by the steam plant] with RFO.” Accounting for most of that remaining percentage point is the use of natural gas to fire up the boilers in the fall — a 16-hour process that’s simply more straightforward with gas — and any use of the third boiler to cover for problems with Nos. 1 or 2.

Good planning helped contain both the cost — $200,000 — and time commitment for the conversion. Burning RFO is not as simple as, say, lighting up some Bananas Foster. The fuel oil needs to be pre-heated and pressurized. In addition, as another efficiency measure, steam from the system preheats water that’s about to be boiled into steam.

Surrounded by scaffolding and newly clad in siding to match the adjacent Cutten Maintenance Center, the Renewable Fuel Oil tank is shown on Jan. 19, 2017. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

This all requires machinery — a compressor, fuel heater, and heat exchanger. So Rasmussen made sure that during the original RFO conversion, beginning in 2016, all of this equipment was sized to accommodate two burners, anticipating the conversion of No. 2.

By the same token, the original fuel tank, intake pump, etc., are adequate to serve both burners. The only difference is that during the coldest weather RFO will be delivered seven times a week, instead of five or so.

Meanwhile, Ensyn has continued to attract clients for RFO, including one in Canada and a municipal district-heating system in Minnesota. In addition, two other Northeastern colleges seem like good bets. And, with the Renfrew plant at capacity, Ensyn has opened a new RFO production facility in Port-Cartier, Quebec, on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River.

RFO is also a money-saver for �ֲ��ý, as Ensyn is committed to offering the product at rates competitive with other fuels, Rasmussen notes.

So all in all, on a cold weekend in January, �ֲ��ý has gotten really good news about keeping warm. “The work by John Rasmussen is very exciting and a real success story,” says sustainability manager Twist, “from the standpoints of both carbon reduction and finance.”

�ֲ��ý energy manager John Rasmussen, at left, and boiler operator John Jasper pose by the new Renewable Fuel Oil burner on Jan. 19, 2017. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

�ֲ��ý in the News: May 25, 2018

�ֲ��ý News — Fri, 25 May 2018 14:33:23 +0000

�ֲ��ý College

�ֲ��ý College to start new science and research building in 2019��— MaineBiz

MaineBiz, the Lewiston , and the reported on the unveiling of the design of �ֲ��ý’ new science building. The building will house programs in biology, chemistry, and neuroscience and offer state-of-the-art instrumentation and lab space.

A major achievement of the �ֲ��ý Campaign, the new science building at �ֲ��ý College opens in 2021.

“Scheduled for opening in 2021, the science building is a centerpiece of The �ֲ��ý Campaign, a $300 million fundraising campaign publicly announced in May 2017 whose goals include both this new facility and the modernization of existing STEM structures to optimize teaching and research,” MaineBiz writes.

�ֲ��ý nearing its carbon-neutral goal —��Sun Journal��

After its first full winter of heating the campus with a fuel oil that, because it’s created from woody plant materials, is not a source of fossil carbon emissions, �ֲ��ý is on track to make the campus carbon-neutral by 2020.

Darrel Scribner of Preferred Utilities Manufacturing Corp. starts the college’s Renewable Fuel Oil burner by inserting an ignition oil gun. �ֲ��ý is the only college in the country using Renewable Fuel Oil, which drastically reduces fossil-fuel carbon emissions. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

The Sun Journal’s Steve Collins reviewed that are bringing that carbon neutrality goal into reach.

“This winter’s gone very well” with the so-called Renewable Fuel Oil that has become the primary energy source for �ֲ��ý’ campus heating plant, energy manager John Rasmussen said.

�ֲ��ý’ success in energy conservation “has received notice,” Collins wrote. “The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education – an international sustainability rating agency – ranked �ֲ��ý in fourth place worldwide in the clean energy category for 2017.”

Allagash joins the ranks of can-do brewers in Maine��— Portland Press Herald��

The , whose is at the tail end of a sea change in Maine beer: Most of the state’s largest breweries have ditched bottles and put at least some of their beer in cans.

Jason Perkins ’97 of Allagash Brewing Company, photographed in 2008 at the brewery’s headquarters in Portland, Maine. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College).

Allagash made the switch in April, but it’s starting small, canning only one type of beer and selling it only at the Portland brewery itself. Cans are more portable, and the beer inside them less susceptible to damaging ultraviolet light.

“We really view this as doing things in a methodical, slow way, the way we’ve always done things here,” Perkins told reporter James Patrick, adding that Allagash might one day can its biggest seller, White. “It allows us to make sure we learn the trade before we take any further step forward.”

Vets First Choice to become Maine’s newest public company —��Portland Press Herald

The Portland Press Herald reported that Vets First Choice, a veterinary technology provider headed by Ben Shaw ’00, that isn’t a bank.

Ben Shaw ’00, founder and CEO of Vets First Choice, talks with his father, IDEXX founder and �ֲ��ý honorary degree recipient David Shaw. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

The Portland-based company, which gives local veterinarians a leg up by outsourcing online pharmacy services, will merge with the spun-off animal services division of Henry Schein, Inc.

The Press Herald’s J. Craig Anderson reports that Vets First Choice employs 800 people and serves 20,000 veterinary practices, and it recently received $223 million in venture capital investments.

“Building upon our long history of reinvention, the company will continue to expand our offering of innovative solutions for our dental and medical customers,” Shaw said. “We see significant growth opportunities.”

Squash Without the Ceiling —��The New York Times��

Nima Olumi ’17 ran into The New York Times’ Amy Sohn as she was in Manhattan, a rarity for a sport that’s usually played indoors and that has a reputation as a game for the elite.

Turns out Olumi, who’s volunteered with SquashBusters in Boston, and the creators of this pop-up squash spot were on the same page: They try to increase access to the sport.

Olumi, Sohn writes, decided to play shirtless in the warm afternoon. “The sight of a shirtless squash player on an outdoor court, a stone’s throw from the East River, seemed to encapsulate New York’s past and future at once.”

A-L Hall of Fame: Court inducted after almost four decades of coaching —��Sun Journal

The Lewiston Sun Journal , who was inducted into the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame in May.

Lewiston High School track coach and retired �ֲ��ý track and cross country coach Carolyn Court was inducted into the Auburn Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Court , winning the 1995 cross country Coach of the Year in New England Division III in 1995 and coaching 15 All-American award winners.

Since her retirement, she’s been the assistant track and field coach at Lewiston High School. “She never stops,” head coach Paul Soracco told the Sun Journal. “She’ll be texting me at 3 in the morning about the meet the next day, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing, go to bed.’ I am excited for her to be inducted. I don’t know why it hadn’t happened sooner.”

These machines from Japan could put scallop farming in Maine on the map —��Bangor Daily News��

The Bangor Daily News of Bangs Island Mussels, which is testing new machinery that could make Maine home to the “first semi-automated commercial scallop aquaculture operations outside Japan.”

In 2016, Matt Moretti ’06 begins to feed mussels into a machine that works to break apart the Bissell tissue connecting many of the clusters. His company, Bangs Island Mussels, is testing out machinery that will automate part of the scallop-farming process. (Josh Kuckens/�ֲ��ý College)

The machines, funded by a grant, speed up the process of growing scallops on ropes off the Maine coast, something Moretti has been doing with mussels since 2010. Automation could, Moretti says, ensure that scallop farmers can consistently feed a growing market.

“We’re super excited about this project,” he says. “It could be a huge boost to the Maine economy.”

Let there be dark: Advocates push Maine as astrotourism destination — Maine Sunday Telegram

Maine has exceptionally dark skies — it contains the largest area without light pollution in the eastern U.S. A group of advocates is trying to keep it that way with a formal “dark sky” designation that would help bring visitors here to marvel at the stars.

The Maine Sunday Telegram , the resource manager for one of the darkest places in the state, Baxter State Park. Baxter’s original mission of protecting the park’s natural resources “nicely aligns with minimizing human impacts like light pollution,” writes Mary Pols.

But Baxter isn’t looking for a designation from the International Dark-Sky Association, as many Maine advocates want. “We have these commitments to the deeds of trust and that is where our priorities lie,” Sypitkowski said. “Anything that may conflict with it or interfere with it is not something we would want to get involved with.”

�ֲ��ý in the News: Dec. 19, 2017

Jay Burns — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 20:06:54 +0000

�ֲ��ý experiments with new bio-fuel technology to heat campus — WMTW-TV

WMTW-TV reporter Lauren Bradley visited �ֲ��ý to look at the college’s use of an innovative fuel oil that’s heating much of the campus.

“From a sustainability perspective, this fuel has been absolutely fantastic,” said Tom Twist, the college’s sustainability manager.

It’s known as Renewable Fuel Oil, and it’s used by no other college in the nation. RFO is made by vaporizing wood feedstock, such as sawdust, at high temperatures. The vapor is then re-condensed into a fuel oil.

Burning RFO makes sustainable and financial sense. When it comes to pursuing sustainability goals, including the reduction of the college’s carbon footprint, “we can’t just follow every lark,” said Geoffrey Swift, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer. “We want to make sure that we’re doing something that is both environmentally sustainable and good for the organization on a long-term basis,”

Classmates publish one of the most-discussed research articles of 2017

Research published by classmates Chris Danforth ’01 and Andrew Reece ’01 was the 17th most-discussed piece of research worldwide in 2017.

The ranking comes from Altmetric, which tracked more than 18.5 million mentions of 2.2 million different pieces of research through Nov. 15.

Exploring the compelling intersection of social media and mental health, Danforth and Reece’s paper, “,” was published Aug. 8 in

Their analysis of thousands of Instagram photos at the pixel level suggests that “depressed individuals in our sample tended to post photos that were, on average, bluer, darker, and grayer than those posted by healthy individuals,” wrote Danforth and Reece .

Danforth is the Flint Professor of Mathematical, Natural, and Technical Sciences at the University of Vermont who co-directs the university’s��Computational Story Lab. For , a behavioral data scientist at BetterUp Inc., the paper was his Harvard doctoral dissertation.

Bird’s-eye views plus a wonderfully imagined, gorgeously illustrated ode — USA Today

A new book by acclaimed children’s book author-illustrator ’97 has made holiday book lists in ,, and , among others.��

Red and Lulu tells the story of two cardinals whose Christmastime journey takes them from their suburban home to the heart of Manhattan.

“With its bird’s-eye views, this wonderfully imagined, gorgeously illustrated ode to the world-famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will have young travelers begging Mom and Dad for a trip to the Big Apple,” said USA Today.

The New York Times says that Red & Lulu “lets the holiday note waft lightly, bringing equal cheer to the celebration of pair-bonding and New York City.”

The New York Times says that Matt Tavares’ latest book, Red & Lulu, “lets the holiday note waft lightly, bringing equal cheer to the celebration of pair-bonding and New York City.”

�ֲ��ý prepares students for work that fits their skills and interests — MaineBiz

A praised the college’s Purposeful Work initiative for “helping students discover how ‘work’ — the activity that will fill most of their adult hours — goes far beyond simply collecting a paycheck.”

Mainebiz reporter James McCarthy explained how the program weaves questions about work, identity, and purpose into the college’s curriculum and co-curricular programs.

Funded internships in Maine and worldwide are a strong part of program’s fabric. The story pointed to support from the Portland-based Libra Foundation, whose $250,000 grant to the �ֲ��ý Campaign will fund more than a dozen annual internships in Maine alone in the coming years.

Purposeful Work’s dual focus on life at and after �ֲ��ý is a “huge selling point” for donors, said President Clayton Spencer.�� The program is “looking at the bridge between college and the rest of each student’s life. So there is a very natural interest in the program.”

Poor Americans “tend to disassociate personal trajectories from their love of country” — Maine Public Broadcasting

Speaking with the Maine Public Broadcasting radio call-in show Maine Calling,��Professor of Sociology Francesco Duina , statistics to the contrary notwithstanding.

Data suggest that the U.S. “really has lower social mobility than other developed countries,” Rooks pointed out. She asked Duina, who is the author of Broke and Patriotic: Why Poor Americans Love Their Country, “Do the people you interviewed not feel this?”

“They didn’t,” replied Duina. “They had a tendency to disassociate personal trajectories from their love of country.”

And while Duina’s interviewees were critical of the government, they “were very, very protective of the nation, of the social contract.”

How to give feedback that people can actually use — Harvard Business Review

Writing for Harvard Business Review, Jennifer Guckel Porter ’88 explains how to give feedback that “.”

Jennifer Guckel Porter ’88 moderates a discussion about “Women in Leadership” during a Boston �ֲ��ý Business Network event on Sept. 28. (Paige Brown ’96 for �ֲ��ý College)

The key is to give “strategic developmental feedback,” says Porter, who is managing partner of The Boda Group, a leadership and team development firm.

Like any strategic approach, it requires “careful thought and��insightful construction.”

Porter shares eight defining qualities of strategic developmental feedback, including that it should be “big-picture focused, organizationally aligned, and factual rather than interpretive.”

Parents looking for diverse picture books now have a helpful resource — HuffPost

A HuffPost article says that “parents looking for picture books featuring characters of color and highlighting important subjects like immigration, LGBTQ topics, and environmental issues now have a helpful resource in the .”

Associate Professor of Psychology Krista Aronson, who co-founded the childrens book search engine, says her research has .

For example, books in the DBF are searchable by one of nine narrative categories, and many of the books that feature African American characters tend to fit into the narrative category “Oppressed” and featuring themes of prejudice, mistreatment, and discrimination.

“That’s an important part of history, and kids should learn about this,” Aronson said. “But an overemphasis has potential to teach children that being black is about oppression and…that it’s a thing of the past.”

The �ֲ��ý boilers just fired up — but with much less fossil fuel

Jay Burns — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 14:07:47 +0000

After a summer hiatus, �ֲ��ý recently fired up its two commercial boilers, one of which burns Renewable Fuel Oil — an energy source used by no other college in the nation.

Because it’s both sustainably sourced and competitively priced with fossil fuels, RFO is a “dream come true,” says Tom Twist, the college’s sustainability manager.

A proprietary product from Ensyn, RFO is made by vaporizing wood feedstock (e.g., sawdust) at a very high temperature. The vapor, which retains the energy of the wood’s organic compounds, is then re-condensed into a fuel oil that’s burned in one �ֲ��ý boiler to heat the campus in winter. (The other boiler uses natural gas, and there’s a third, backup boiler, too.)

Darrel Scribner of Preferred Utilities Manufacturing Corp. starts the RFO burner on Tuesday by inserting what’s known as an ignition oil gun. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

The switch to RFO last January, plus significant efficiency projects, puts �ֲ��ý “within striking distance of our long-term goal of carbon neutrality,” says Twist.

In fact, �ֲ��ý has reduced its carbon emissions by 81 percent since the early 2000s. “It’s an astounding drop at a time when many institutions are just trying not to go up.”

For the impressive way that �ֲ��ý has threaded sustainability throughout the college — from academics and student activism to dining and facilities operations — the college earned a Gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

AASHE is the “premier benchmarking agency for sustainability for any institution,” says Jay Phillips, director of Facility Services operations. Gold “is a huge achievement for �ֲ��ý.”

In turns of emission reductions alone, �ֲ��ý is eighth out of 362 college and universities on the AASHE scorecard. “�ֲ��ý is emerging as a powerhouse in sustainability,” Twist says. “We are doing really well.”

�ֲ��ý in the News: March 10, 2017

Jay Burns — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 17:51:46 +0000

�ֲ��ý Sustainability

The Canadian company that makes �ֲ��ý’ biofuel seeks more customers before it can build a Maine plant — Portland Press Herald

Portland Press Herald energy reporter Tux Turkel of why a company that makes heating oil from wood waste is considering expansion into Maine.

�ֲ��ý just started burning a proprietary biofuel, manufactured by Canada-based Ensyn Corp., in one of its three campus boilers, cutting college-wide carbon emissions by 83 percent.

Ensyn makes the fuel in Quebec but intends to build new plants, and Maine would be “an ideal place to locate a facility,” Lee Torrens, president of the subsidiary Ensyn Fuels Inc., told the Press Herald.

The newly installed Renewable Fuel Oil tank is shown on Jan. 19, 2017. Newly clad in siding to match the adjacent Cutten Maintenance Center, it’s surrounded by temporary scaffolding. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Ensyn would expand only if it can lock in contracts with more Maine companies and institutions, according to the paper. Currently, �ֲ��ý is the only Maine business burning Ensyn’s Renewable Fuel Oil. In fact, �ֲ��ý is the only college in the country burning RFO.

At �ֲ��ý, using Ensyn’s Renewable Fuel Oil is a case of so far, so good, said energy manager John Rasmussen. “They’ve been burning this stuff for 25 years, so there shouldn’t be many surprises,” he told the paper.

Less U.S. spending on foreign aid isn’t good for U.S. defense — The Washington Post

Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Matt Auer’s argues that the Trump administration’s plan to cut foreign-aid spending “is actually less-than-ideal news for the Defense��Department.”

Auer is a widely recognized international scholar and expert in environmental policy, energy policy, sustainable development, and foreign aid.

“Foreign aid is instrumental to national security. Spent wisely, it fosters economic opportunity and social stability,” Auer says.

‘I have never written anything from beginning to end’ — The Guardian

For the Guardian‘s Books section, novelist Elizabeth Strout about how she creates her Pulitzer Prize–winning fiction.

For one thing, she says, “I have never written anything from beginning to end…. I just collect different scenes, and the ones that aren’t any good to me get slipped onto the floor and eventually into the wastebasket. (There are many of those.)”

While personal, the essay has tips for writers; one is a variation on the rule of “writing what you know”: Write the feelings that you know, Strout says.

“I have learned over the years to take anything that is most pressing to me — it may be as mundane as a concern about upcoming dental work, or as serious as worrying about the safety of my child — and to transpose that emotion into a character. This will give the scene life, as opposed to having it wooden.”

Twins have identical impact on Bobcats — Lewiston Sun Journal

Marcus Delpeche ’17 tells Lewiston Sun Journal writer Randy Whitehouse that he laughed when his high school guidance counselor in Delaware suggested he look at a college in Maine.

He and his identical twin brother, Malcolm Delpeche ’17, are from Wilmington, and Malcolm agrees with his twin. “If someone ever told me I was going to be in Maine of all places, I would have told them, ‘You’re crazy.'”

Marcus Delpeche ’17 (left) and Malcolm Delpeche ’17, identical twin brothers from Wilmington, Del., pose during practice in Alumni Gym. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ��ý College)

That was then. As the Sun Journal feature story makes clear, the basketball-playing brothers and psychology majors consider �ֲ��ý to be a sane and savvy choice.

For evidence, they point to support from head coach Jon Furbush ’05, on and off the court, who “lets us know we’re not just here to play basketball. We’re here to establish a bond that’s going to go on beyond the season and beyond �ֲ��ý College,” said Malcolm.

The Bobcats went 15-10 this year, bowing out in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament. Marcus was a 6-foot-7 forward; Malcolm, a 6-8 center. They were one-two in scoring, with 15.1 and 13.2 points per game respectively.

Betsy DeVos as education secretary is bad news for rural schools — Charlestown (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail

In a Feb. 5 op-in the Charlestown (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail, Assistant Professor of Education Mara Tieken as secretary of education.

Assistant Professor of Education Mara Tieken works with students in Muskie Archives. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ��ý College)

Noting that DeVos is a “strong proponent of school choice” and of “expanding charter schools and reducing their oversight,” Tieken, who is an expert in rural education, argues that “choice only works when you have options, and many rural communities don’t.”

Most rural communities, “with their small populations and vast geographies…cannot sustain a variety of brick-and-mortar options, public or private.”

The U.S. Senate confirmed DeVos on Feb. 7.

Legal in Maine, pot is still illegal on Maine college campuses, including �ֲ��ý’ — Portland Press Herald

Maine voters decided in November to make marijuana use legal, but that doesn’t change the rules on college campuses, the Portland Press Herald reported, quoting Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs Josh McIntosh.

“The federal law and the state law are in conflict with one another and our perspective is — like many of our fellow institutions of higher education��— that we will continue to follow federal law,” McIntosh told the paper.

“Our approach to it and our policies toward it remain unchanged and will likely remain unchanged until that conflict between the state and federal governments gets worked out.”

Massachusetts clergyman elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina — The Boston Globe

Samuel Rodman, the newly elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, was for his “exceptional combination of gifts,” reported The Boston Globe.

The Rt. Rev. Alan Gates, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, said in a statement that Rodman, currently a special projects officer for the Diocese of Massachusetts, has a “creative imagination, engaging personal interaction, keen organizing skills and the heart of a pastor. He will be a strong and wise shepherd.”

Ordained in 1988, Rodman majored in English at �ֲ��ý and earned a master’s degree from Virginia Theological Seminary. He previously spent 16 years as the rector of St. Michael’s in Milton, Mass.

A longtime advocate for Lewiston-Auburn now heads its chamber of commerce — Portland Press Herald

Beckie Swanson Conrad ’82, currently vice president for institutional advancement at Maine College of Art in Portland, is the new president and CEO of the Lewiston Auburn Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Beckie Swanson Conrad ’82. (Mike Weymouth photograph)

“We were looking for specific attributes, and one of the biggest is someone who is a relationship builder and collaborator,” said Jen Hogan, president of Community Credit Union in Lewiston and the chair-elect of the board for the L-A chamber. “That’s who Beckie is — it’s her nature.”

Conrad worked at �ֲ��ý for 21 years, including from 1999 to 2003 as executive director of LA Excels, the college’s nonprofit community development partnership in Lewiston-Auburn.

Campus Construction Update: Jan. 27, 2017

Doug Hubley — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 20:32:15 +0000

In a way it was pleasingly ironic that biting cold and wind on Dec. 9 made outdoor work a challenge for those, like Campus Construction Update, who don’t do it very much.

That’s because the event that drew us over to the Cutten Maintenance Center parking lot was all about heat: a new fuel for heating �ֲ��ý people while reducing the college’s role in global warming.

On that frigid Friday afternoon, �ֲ��ý energy manager John Rasmussen was among those watching Cote Crane and Rigging, of Auburn, erect a new heating-fuel tank next to Cutten. It was one of the final steps in the conversion, which Rasmussen managed, of one of �ֲ��ý’ three central boilers to burn so-called Renewable Fuel Oil, a sustainable fuel sourced from woody plant material.

Surrounded by scaffolding and newly clad in siding to match the adjacent Cutten Maintenance Center, the Renewable Fuel Oil tank is shown on Jan. 19, 2017. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Making steam that warms most of the heart of campus, about 1.1 million square feet of interior space, those boilers are historically responsible for a big share of the college’s greenhouse gas emissions. Since �ֲ��ý switched from natural gas to��RFO for its primary heating fuel, on Jan. 10, those emissions have shrunk by roughly 83 percent.

In the 1980s, the Canadian company Ensyn Technologies developed a process for rendering oil, so-called biocrude, from biomass. Like crude petroleum, biocrude can be refined into a variety of products — in fact, the company’s earliest commercial successes include the food seasoning Liquid Smoke.

Although it resembles Liquid Smoke in its dark brown color and smoky odor, Ensyn’s Renewable Fuel Oil does not belong in your barbecue sauce. But it’s great for fueling industrial boilers, and �ֲ��ý’ switch to RFO makes the college the first educational institution, and only the third institution of any kind, in the U.S. now heating with it.

�ֲ��ý energy manager John Rasmussen, at left, and boiler operator John Jasper pose by the new Renewable Fuel Oil burner on Jan. 19, 2017. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

The goal is for RFO to replace about 70 percent (measured in BTUs) of the fossil fuel, primarily natural gas, that �ֲ��ý has burned to heat the campus in recent years. (The other two boilers can each burn either gas or No. 2 fuel oil, with gas the preferred fuel.)

Because RFO is not a fossil fuel, burning it does not release fossil carbon into the atmosphere. �ֲ��ý sustainability manager Tom Twist estimates that in a typical year, burning 70 percent RFO will cut the steam plant’s emission of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) from about 3,080 metric tons to 532.

That cut in emissions would reduce the college’s annual CO2e total, in recent years about 9,000 metric tons, by 2,548, or nearly a third.

Thanks to conservation measures undertaken over the past couple of years by energy manager Rasmussen, “we’re already down about 34 percent this year from our 2001 baseline” of 13,461 metric tons of CO2e, Twist adds. So all told, “we’re probably looking at something like a 60 percent reduction.”

Tanks a lot: With a Cote crane poised for action nearby, a rigger unfastens the Renewable Fuel Oil tank from its trailer on Dec. 9, 2016. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

“It’s a huge drop, which is pretty cool,” says Twist.

RFO is also saving money for �ֲ��ý, thanks in large part to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard program, which helps renewable fuels compete with fossil fuels in the marketplace.

Twenty-nine feet tall and holding 20,000 gallons, the new tank is the most conspicuous evidence of �ֲ��ý’ conversion to the Ensyn fuel. Thanks to various adventures in transport, including the non-local truck driver’s getting lost in Auburn, the Dec. 9 delivery was late and the sun was setting by the time the tank was offloaded.

In setting up the tank, a more agreeable kind of drama emanated from Cote’s elegant choreography with two telescoping-boom cranes. One hoisted the top of the tank and the other steadied its base, they turned it upright, and then one crane set it on its concrete pad next to Cutten’s western wall.

Up, up, and away, or at least over a few yards: Two Cote cranes orient the RFO tank upright prior to placing it. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Through the ensuing weekend, under the supervision of Lincoln, Maine-based general contractor Fastco Corporation, technicians in various trades connected pipes, wired up sensors and instruments, and installed handrails and other fittings. Later the tank was wrapped, first, in thermal insulation and then in sheet metal similar to the siding on Cutten.

The first RFO was delivered Jan. 4, and several days of testing, tweaking, and curing the ceramic liner of the combustion chamber preceded the formal start of RFO service on the 10th.

Of course, there was more to the $1.1 million conversion project than the tank. The burner, on the college’s No. 1 boiler, is new — a large green contraption, built into the boiler front, in whose center is a little porthole through which you can watch the fierce yellow-orange flame of RFO combustion.

Ensyn ships RFO to the college from Renfrew, west of Ottawa. Once the system is broken in, says Rasmussen, the steam plant will burn about 4,700 gallons of RFO daily, with deliveries scheduled every day except Sunday during the coldest weather.

The RFO tank bolted in place next to Cutten Maintenance Center. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Although �ֲ��ý followed standard fire-prevention practices in the design and installation of the system — a flame arrester at the top of the tank, fireproofed legs supporting it, and so on — “RFO really won’t burn” outside its preferred combustion environment, Rasmussen says.

So RFO, like heavier grades of petroleum fuel oil, needs some cajoling to be combustible. (It takes more than a discussion of contemporary politics.) It must be heated to 160 degrees and atomized with pressurized air by the time it reaches the fuel injector. Doing that work is a series of heat exchangers, compressors, pumps, etc. occupying four equipment stations, or “skids,” on two floors of Cutten.

The Burning Sands: As if the carbon curtailment and the Liquid Smoke angles weren’t compelling enough, we were intrigued to learn more about the proprietary technology that Ensyn uses to make RFO and other products.

Called Rapid Thermal Processing, it’s a variant of a chemical process called��pyrolysis. Pulverized woody biomass is blown into an oxygen-free chamber together with very hot sand. In just seconds, the heat breaks the biomass down into vapors, gases (not the same thing as vapors), and char. The vapors are condensed into pyrolysis oil, aka biocrude, while the gases and char are recycled to dry the feedstock and reheat the sand — pretty efficient.

�ֲ��ý’ energy manager first heard from Ensyn in February 2015, a month and year when heating was on every New Englander’s mind. A company rep cold-called Rasmussen on the same day he was about to take a major step forward with plans to convert the steam plant to wood chips — which would have cost about $10 million.

Boiler No. 1 in November 2016, prior to its conversion for burning Renewable Fuel Oil. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)

Rasmussen was intrigued, and �ֲ��ý�� ultimately signed a seven-year contract with the fuel maker.

Tom Twist started work as sustainability manager as Rasmussen was developing �ֲ��ý’ plan for converting to the new fuel. “I had a little bit of nervousness about it, just because so few places are trying RFO,” Twist says.

“But seeing all the due diligence John has gone through, I feel pretty good that it’ll be a fantastic step forward for the college. We can do the right thing and it saves us money, which is like a slam dunk.”

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions and comments about current, past, and future construction at �ֲ��ý. Write to dhubley@bates.edu, putting “Campus Construction” or “Liquid Smoke!” in the subject line. Or use the 21st-century commenting system below.

The new RFO burner on the central steam plant’s boiler No. 1. Preferred Utilities Manufacturing of Connecticut designed the burner for Ensyn to accommodate RFO’s low pH and high water content. Note the combustion viewing port between the gauges. (Doug Hubley/�ֲ��ý College)