Tufts Recognized for “Outstanding” Renewable Energy Collaboration

Courtesy of Apex Energy

Tufts University, along with members of the Consortium for Climate Solutions, was awarded the Environmental Business Council of New England’s Nicholas Humber Award for Outstanding Collaboration for their work on a groundbreaking collaborative model for large-scale renewable energy procurement. The Consortium utilized an innovative Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) model to collectively invest in and enable the development of 408 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy capacity – equal to the electricity used by approximately 130,000 U.S. homes and avoiding nearly 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases annually.

The award recognizes projects that embody “environmental and energy excellence” and “serve as models for others to emulate”. This aggregated renewable energy purchase represents a new strategy for institutions to decrease carbon emissions and increase the renewable energy capacity of U.S. electrical grids at an impactful scale while also enabling a diverse set of organizations to buy renewable power. The Consortium demonstrates that collaboration amplifies climate action, enabling greater renewable energy investment than any single institution alone. Smaller organizations were able to invest in renewable energy by sharing resources and negotiating together, and municipal procurement barriers were eliminated, paving the way for other cities to engage in similar initiatives.

Read more about this effort, which reduced 40% of energy-related emissions on Tufts’ Boston health sciences campus, on Tufts Now.