University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Plant

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has a heating plant that provides steam to campus buildings for heat and hot water and also has a chilling plant that provides chilled water to cool some of the campus buildings. The Heating Plant contains four boilers that consume natural gas, coal, or oil.

In 2009 Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle backed off a 2006 campaign promise that Oshkosh, as well as the University of Wisconsin’s River Falls and Stevens Point campuses, be energy independent by 2012 after determining it was not practical as proposed. The campuses continue to burn coal to heat and cool their buildings. The goal now is to require them to cut their carbon dioxide emissions to the level of those produced by their 2005 electricity consumption.

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