Oberlin College Plant

The Oberlin College Plant in Ohio is a cogeneration facility that burns coal, and to a lesser extent natural gas and fuel oil, to generate heat, steam, and some electricity for the college. The heat from the furnaces is used to create steam, which is delivered to campus buildings through underground steam lines. The steam is also used to generate electricity, and the plant provides 5-10% of the campus's energy needs on an annual basis. The heating plant is responsible for about 30% of the College's total greenhouse gas emissions, approximately 10 tons of greenhouse gases per student.

Oberlin College gets most of its electricity from Oberlin Municipal Light and Power System, which purchases most of the power used by the college from American Municipal Power - Ohio.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Campus coal plants
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Opposition to existing coal plants
 * Coal
 * Coal and jobs
 * Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation
 * Coal phase-out
 * Coal plant conversion projects
 * Coal plants near residential areas

External resources

 * Anne C. Mulkern, "Colleges Are Battlegrounds for Coal Fight," Greenwire, October 14, 2009.
 * Campuses Beyond Coal Campaign, Sierra Club, September 2009.
 * "DOE Announces Winners of Annual University Coal Research Grants," July 7, 2005.
 * American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment