July 2009

In the 1800s, Middlebury College freshmen were instructed to pack a cord of wood for their dormitory fireplaces. “We’ve kind of got the modern version of that,” said Jack Byrne, the director of sustainability integration.

A $12 million modern fireplace — although it’s more akin to a high-tech wood stove. Middlebury officials estimate that they cut their fuel use by 50 percent, and their carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent, by building a biomass gasification plant. It went online in January.

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Tall, fair-haired, and patrician, strongly emitting that ineffable thing called presence, Timothy Rub [Middlebury Class of 1974] is wandering through the galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art late one recent night like a kid let loose in a candy shop.

“Isn’t that fantastic?” he says, sidling up to Monet’s Water Lilies, Japanese Footbridge. “This is a superb painting.” He points out the unusual thickness of paint and the diffuse ochres, tans, and greens that make the piece seem almost more abstract than impressionist.

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