According to energy experts on campus, as oil prices continue to skyrocket, the electricity and heating costs at UNH will not be affected, although many other aspects of campus living will.
Oil prices now exceed $100 a barrel as the winter months approach and temperatures continue to plummet. However, according to John Carroll, a professor of natural resources and environmental conservation, the new eco-line that will transport methane gas from the Rochester Landfill to the university's co-generation plant will provide the university heat and electricity for the next 25 years.
"They are estimating that [the co-generation plant] will take care of 85 percent of our heating needs for the next 25 years," said Carroll. "So we are in much better shape than most people, and we will be able to sell electricity in the summer because we don't have the same demand for electricity."
John Aber, a professor of natural resources at UNH, said the eco-line should be complete in a year once the university is done building a processing plant at the landfill. Aber also says once that happens, UNH's heat and electricity will be immune to increases in oil prices.
However, Carroll said that many other aspects of campus life will be affected by the increase in oil prices. He said that while many people do not realize it, our society is very dependent on oil in the construction process, and this may have a huge effect on the university.
"Another problem that the university is going to have is the cost of materials," said Carroll. "The cost of cement, asphalt, concrete and steal for building [construction] and renovations are going to increase because all of those things are related to the price of oil."
According to Carroll, the price of asphalt has increased by 45 percent in two years.
Carroll said the increase in oil prices may also affect the amount of food that is available on campus.
"We don't have that much local food," said Carroll. "Most of the food in the dining hall comes from more than 1,500 miles away. How does that get here if the price of oil gets so high? How do we get enough food here to supply 60,000 meals a week from September to May and 15,000 to 20,000 meals during the summer? That's a lot of food and it is all related to oil."
Carroll said he also thinks that transportation will be a big factor, and it is going to become harder for commuter students and faculty to get to campus. This will have a huge effect on the university because UNH depends on its employees for their various services and its commuter students for their tuition.
"When our commuter students and employees have a problem, whether it is a price problem or a supply problem, we all have a problem," said Carroll.
Carroll said that if the operating staff of the university can not get to campus, then the university will be affected greatly.
"The lowest paid employees are actually the people who work in the dining halls and clean up and maintain this place," said Carroll. "Those people ironically have the greatest dependence on gas, because they live father away and that's very critical to the university because you can not have 12,000 students here and 7,000 living on campus without those employees. If those employees stop, then the place shuts down."
According to Kevin Gardner, a professor at UNH and member of the environmental research group, the co-generation plant allows for the university to store and save a lot of energy that would normally be wasted. He said that when a gallon of gas is used, only 30 percent of it is turned into electricity and the other 70 percent is wasted. However, the co-generation plant saves the wasted energy and utilizes 90 percent of the gas as electricity. It is also able to generate both oil and natural gas.
Paul Chamberlin, the assistant vice president of facilities, said that the university primarily uses natural gas for energy needs and will have to depend on natural gas this winter. He said that he expects natural gas prices to increase along with oil as winter approaches. However, because the university prepays for most of its natural gas, the price increases should not affect the university.
"For this heating season, we have most of our gas supply already under contract," said Chamberlin. "This gives us predictable costs. We don't pre-buy 100 percent of our energy since there are penalties for not using everything you pre-purchase, but we lock in most of what we expect to use. As a result, we aren't nearly as exposed to the rising cost."
As oil demands continue to rise and oil supplies continue to diminish, Aber said that he feels UNH will continue to do all that it takes to remain as energy efficient as possible.
"It is safe to say that there is no other university in the country that gets as much energy from renewable sources as UNH," said Aber.
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