Sustainability

Harvard Forest is committed to making infrastructure decisions that advance state-level and Harvard University goals for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and sustainability. Major projects contributing to these goals include: 

"Green" Garage and Solar Array

The Harvard Forest maintenance garage was designed and built by the Harvard Forest Woods Crew using timber sustainably harvested from our own forestland (see the Harvard Forest land-use master plan).

An adjacent solar array installed in 2007, provides about 8% of the electrical needs for long-term research experiments on Prospect Hill. As of September 2022, the system has generated 115,497 kilowatt hours of clean energy - enough to offset more than 154,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. 

• View the real-time output figures from the Harvard Forest Solar Array. 

Thermal Biomass Facility

A January 2014 Open House at the Forest celebrated the dedication of its super-efficient thermal biomass system that heats the campus's 5 main buildings using wood harvested from Harvard Forest land.