Green Mountain Becomes First Campus Powered by Vermont Dairy Cows http://www.greenmtn.edu/gmcjournal/pop_102306_cow_power.asp Local farm leading way for green power http://www.addisonindependent.com/?q=node/295 CVPS Cow Power [Macromedia Flash Player] http://www.cvps.com/cowpower/Cow%20Power%20home.html The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy http://www.ashdenawards.org/ Vermont is a state that is known for its passion in developing alternative farming methods and independence in its political thought. Now it can lay claim to another important recent development in its long history. As of this week, Green Mountain College in the town of Poultney is believed to be the first college in the United States that will be powered by cows. To be accurate, however, it should be noted that the energy that will be shipped to Green Mountain via the Central Vermont Public Service’s “Cow Power” program. Power will be created from burning biogas created from cow manure. Initially, the college will derive approximately fifty percent of its energy needs for the main campus from this new energy source. It is estimated that this will allow the college to reduce its carbon emissions by approximately 3500 metric tons per year. There’s a great deal of interest in this program, and the school’s provost, Bill Throop recently commented that “We want our students learning how to support sustainable communities right here in Vermont and this helps us lead by example.” The first link will take visitors to a CNN news article on this recent development in creating a sustainable energy source on the campus of Green Mountain College. Moving along, the second link leads to a press release from the Green Mountain College Journal which provides some nice details on this new initiative. The third link leads to an article from this Monday’s Addison Independent, which reports on the efforts of the Foster Brothers Farm in Middlebury, Vermont to create a new company that will allow them to sell electricity produced, on farms across the United States. The fourth link will take users to a very fun and informative site provided by the Central Vermont Public Service which explains the niceties of their “Cow Power” program, and also includes a great segment on “How Energy Happens”. The last and final link leads to the homepage of The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. Here, visitors can learn about these rather interesting awards, which honor organizations that have made commitments to developing practical sustainable energy technologies.