ECOLINE & SELLING REC'S 
Forging an innovative & aggressive path to a clean energy future...
- Starting in April 2009, UNH will receive up to 85% of the energy used by the campus from the ECOLine project, a landfill gas-to-energy project that uses methane gas from a nearby landfill. The methane will be the primary fuel to operate the University’s cogeneration plant, which provides electricity and heat for the main campus buildings. Learn more about ECOLine and UNH's cogeneration heat and power plant...
- UNH is the first university in the country to use landfill gas as its primary fuel source.
- UNH will sell the associated renewable energy certificates (REC's) to help finance the capital costs of ECOLine and to invest in additional energy efficiency projects on campus.
- ECOLine and selling RECs are part of UNH’s aggressive climate action plan called “WildCAP,” which will outline how the university will lower its emissions to basically zero and secure its leadership position in climate protection as part of its broader sustainability commitment. Under WildCAP, UNH will cut its greenhouse gas emissions:
- 50% by 2020
- 80% by 2050 on the road to carbon neutrality by 2100
- To ensure we meet these targets, UNH commits to an average reduction of 3% per year.
- ECOLine and selling RECs:
- Demonstrates fiscal as well as environmental responsibility: UNH is selling RECs, not buying RECs.
- Improves UNH’s energy security.
- Stabilizes UNH’s energy costs.
- ECOline is a partnership with Waste Management’s Turnkey Recycling and Environmental Enterprise (TREE) in Rochester, where the naturally occurring by-product of landfill decomposition is collected, purified, then piped 12 miles to UNH’s Durham campus.
More Information
- 2009 EcoLine Press Release
- UNH Climate Education Initiative
- UNH Energy Task Force
- UNH Energy & Campus Development
- NH Climate Change Policy Task Force
- NH Governor Lynch’s 25 x ’25 Renewable Energy Initiative
- Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) (& New Hampshire's involvement)
- U.S. Department of Energy Green Power Network
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Green Power information
