Citing global warming, Gore renews call to cut use of oil

Former vice president Al Gore was introduced by Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard University. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

Speaking yesterday at Harvard University, former vice president Al Gore renewed his call for an end to dependence on oil and other carbon-based fuels, blaming it for global warming and the United States' problems in the Middle East.

"We have a very few short years to change the way we conduct global civilization," Gore said. "It is almost absurd to think that we as a human race could make any one decision as a species, but that is, in fact, the challenge before us."

His comments came during an outdoor program highlighting the university's previously announced plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from 2006 levels over the next eight years. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide contribute to global warming, which many believe is responsible for extreme changes in weather patterns.

During her introduction of Gore, Harvard's president, Drew Gilpin Faust, said the school must be a model in the fight to reduce pollution, both in the classroom and in everyday life.

"How we light our classrooms, how we heat our water, how we plan and build our laboratories all send a powerful signal," Faust said.

Executive vice president Ed Forst, who will oversee the university's new Office for Sustainability, said becoming more environmentally friendly has long been a Harvard goal.

"Today is really our call to action to say, fine, we've set an eight-year goal and we want to go ahead and galvanize our community to move forward," Forst said.

Earlier this year, a Harvard task force estimated it could cost as much as $26 million a year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the task force also said substantial portions of the expenses likely would be recouped through lower energy bills, which now are almost $100 million a year.

In the past several years, the university has installed solar panels atop Harvard Business School's fitness center and is now using several dozen buses that run on soy-based biodiesel fuel. In addition, officials said, buildings under construction incorporate features that reduce energy use.

During fiscal year 2007, Harvard emitted almost 2 percent less greenhouse gas than in the previous year, according to the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, a service group that works on campus sustainability and that will be part of the sustainability office. Despite the reduction, the university is putting out about 34 percent more emissions than in fiscal 2000, when the Green Campus Initiative was started.

Forst said Harvard considers its greenhouse gas reduction program and other efforts to be long-term projects.

"This is not something where when we get to that 30 percent it's 'game over,' " he said. "This is going to be a continual process for Harvard to be leader in sustainability."

Meanwhile, the Cambridge-based school isn't the only one trying to "go green." Colleges nationwide are rolling out efforts to be environmentally friendly, including the University of New Hampshire, which has started using methane gas from a landfill as its main energy source, and Yale University, where solar panels generate 50 percent of the power for a dormitory.

Ian Bowles, secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said that though many universities have made environmental commitments, Harvard is taking the lead on slashing greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the short term.

"Harvard's is a very aggressive goal," Bowles said.

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.