Skanska Integrated Solutions will oversee design and construction on a $500m, decade-plus-long decarbonisation plan for Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
The college, founded in 1769, has committed to reach zero carbon emitted in its 5.5 million square feet of facilities within 26 years, which means progressively eliminating fossil fuel-based heating.
The plan involves a range of technologies including geo-exchange borefields and heat pump plants, solar-thermal and photovoltaic systems, and a new hot and chilled water distribution system.
All the buildings on campus will undergo heating conversions from steam to hot water, which is considered more efficient.
Right now, a major distribution piping upgrade is underway on East Wheelock Street.
The college said the programme would give students hands-on experience and a “real-world classroom” for sustainability.
“We can view everything, including this massive infrastructural change, through the lens of ‘how might we leverage this as an educational opportunity for our students’, and really engage them in a process that’s going to have to happen all over the world,” said the college’s sustainability director, Rosi Kerr.
