Colgate alumni, parents, and faculty harnessed their intellectual resources in New York last week, at the university's first Energy Summit sponsored by the Presidents' Club.

ABC's Bob Woodruff '83, P'13 moderated a panel discussion featuring six alumni who represented diverse perspectives on the energy field: journalist and Alaska resident Elizabeth Arnold '82; energy investor Bob Gold '80; London-based energy policy advisor and attorney Jane Kozinski '82; wind entrepreneur David Mortenson '88; Edgar Lampert '62, P'10, a real estate developer committed to sustainable building; and Bruce Selleck '71, Harold Orville Whitnall Professor of geology at Colgate.

While the majestic trees on Willow Path have the power to warm people's hearts, a new 7½ -acre willow biomass farm on Hamilton Street will help heat the university.

Depending on the soil, weather, and overall conditions, last week's planting of 60,000 8-inch shrub willow shoots should yield about 900 dry tons of biomass over a 20-year period -- a drop in the proverbial bucket considering that Colgate currently burns about 100 tons of woodchips per day in its environmentally friendly steam-fired boiler.