The Sustainability Solutions Lab (SSL), a new program developed by the Office of Sustainability Integration (OSI), will support students in designing and applying solutions to campus sustainability challenges. Its purpose is to create change that has positive impacts socially, environmentally, and economically. The OSI is offering up to 16 internship positions for Winter Term in which teams of students will work to develop a detailed plan for how the college can transform its energy system to be 100% renewable, highly efficient and to produce as much of its own energy as possible. This plan will form the basis for the College’s next big steps going beyond carbon neutrality.
To prepare students to take on this task, the SSL winter term internships will include training and workshops about: Problem definition, Design thinking, Systems mapping, Project management, Communication, How Middlebury works: Decision-making, Process, Stakeholders, Access to resources, and more.
Interns will become familiar with the current energy system in Vermont and on the Middlebury campus; establish a baseline of current efficiency and energy status; map out campus energy systems and subsystems;manipulate historical campus data for energy usage and carbon emissions; examine the Vermont Energy Plan and relevance to future campus energy planning; assess attitudes and behaviors toward energy usage on campus; explore existing and emerging energy technologies for their relevance to a net zero energy campus;refine the framework for moving toward a net zero energy campus developed by the Environmental Council and create a portfolio of projects that would move Middlebury closer to becoming a net zero energy campus including an assessment of the social, environmental, and economic costs and benefits of possible projects.
Deadline to apply for this internship: November 8
All students applying for the Sustainability Solutions Lab must register for an alternate Winter Term class during Winter Term registration in case you are not selected.
Intern Supervisor: Jack Byrne, Director of Office of Sustainability Integration
Academic Advisor: Steve Trombulak, Prof of Environmental & Biosphere Studies; Director of Sciences