Chatham University Receives PEER Silver Certification
Green Business Certification Inc., the world’s leading sustainability and health certification and credentialing body, announced that Chatham University’s Eden Hall Hall Campus earned certification under GBCI’s Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal (PEER) rating system. The PEER rating system recognizes power grid improvements across multiple sectors and rewards power users who enhance energy grid reliability, resilience, and sustainability. Projects at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Lafayette College also earned certification. Chatham’s PEER project was the first student-led PEER certification effort in the world.
"Chatham’s Eden Hall Campus is designed to be a living lab for sustainability and resiliency, and it made perfect sense to do PEER as a student-led real-world project, where students can drive progress while developing their skills. We were very happy that several of our students chose to pursue their PEER Pro badge as part of this project” says Dr. Mary Whitney who is the Director of Sustainability at Chatham.
PEER certification signifies that a system is resilient, reliable, and sustainable. The certification system supports global grid modernization efforts and recognizes industry leaders for improving efficiency, operational reliability, and overall resiliency. The PEER rating system assesses performance across four categories, including (1) reliability and resiliency, (2) energy efficiency and environment, (3) operations, management, and safety, and (4) grid services.
Chatham earned PEER Silver Certification with 56 points, demonstrating clear progress towards the university’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025. Chatham’s PEER project was the first student-led PEER certification effort in the world. Five graduate students participated in the PEER process for course credit and developed an internal report advocating for additional grid improvements.
“The PEER program has shown that Eden Hall does have room to grow which would be an incredible opportunity for future students to be involved in” says Dante Barbetti, a second-year graduate student at Chatham. “That being said, it’s very exciting that Chatham’s Eden Hall Campus received the silver credit rating.”
Chatham’s grid has now been enhanced to include renewable energy, which reduces the carbon footprint of the campus. Based upon Eden Hall Campus’s successful PEER certification, Chatham will consider incorporating future PEER projects into university curriculum.
“It was great to work on something that yielded tangible results” says Tobias Chen ‘22, a graduate student who was an important member of the team to achieve this certification.
The partnership between GBCI and these institutions was made possible by funding and support from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Department of Energy.