Project Overview

Smith College has long been a leader in sustainability and, in particular, the push for carbon neutrality. 

In May 2022, Smith College broke ground on a bold geothermal campus energy project that will lower the college’s carbon emissions by 90 percent, allowing Smith to become carbon neutral by 2030.

This project—to be implemented between 2022 and 2028, largely during the summers—will replace the college’s aging fossil-fuel-fired steam heating system with a state-of-the-art, electrically powered geothermal system. The new system will allow the college to reach its carbon-neutral goal almost entirely through a reduction in on-site fossil fuel combustion.

Check this page regularly for updates on Smith’s geothermal energy project. For information about Smith’s broader work to become carbon neutral, please visit the college’s web site.