Colleges go ‘green’ to stretch budgets

Environmental efforts help schools self-sustain and conserve energy

NORTHFIELD, Minnesota (AP) — In the shadow of Carleton College’s majestic wind turbine, Daniel Pulver has cooked up an idea for creating even more renewable energy: turning used cafeteria oil into fuel for cars.

Across the Cannon River at St. Olaf College, Dayna Burtness grows pesticide-free food for the school cafeteria. Wasted food goes to a composter so it can be used in the campus’ fields and planting beds.

Carleton and St. Olaf are among hundreds of colleges and universities across the country trying to be more self-sustaining to stretch budgets and conserve energy.

But the green-mindedness is also spurring old-time school rivalries like the friendly competition between the two schools in Northfield, Minnesota, a rural town of 18,000 people roughly 40 miles south of the Twin Cities.

AP