Tabor Academy is making big strides to improve the campus’s overall sustainability this school year.

The first week of January Tabor announced that it was moving to 100 percent renewable energy through its contract with Direct Energy. The move does cost the school more than its previous agreement, but the difference was worthwhile, said CFO Chris Winslow.

“We thought that was an important statement to make to the community – that sustainability was important to the school,” he said.

Using electricity powered by biomass, wind and solar is just the latest step the school has taken to become more environmentally friendly. Solar panels are also on the horizon and should be installed on the athletic center and academic center in the next six months. Winslow said the panels are expected to produce 30 to 35 percent of the campus’s electricity.

Winslow, who is in his second year at the school, said sustainability was on his list of goals for Tabor and is also a priority for Head of School John Quirk.

“It’s been a way to engage the student community, the faculty and just to make the school overall more sustainable,” Winslow said.

At the beginning of the school year students and faculty received Nalgene water bottles in an effort to reduce the number of disposable plastic bottles used on campus. Water stations were also added to help people on campus refill those bottles.

The school is moving to all LED lights on campus, which will take around a year to implement, said Winslow.

By cutting down on energy and water usage, Tabor’s kitchen recently received a national certification as a “green kitchen.”

Additionally, the campus is preparing to switch to single stream recycling in February, which allows all recyclable materials to be placed in one bin. Single stream recycling helps to encourage the practice and will reduce the number of dumpsters at the School by the Sea, said Winslow.

Transportation is going green, too. Tabor replaced six vehicles with hybrids this school year, and purchased an electric Zamboni. A charging station will be installed eventually using electricity powered by the solar panels.

The school also established a bike share with 30 bikes placed around campus to encourage staff and faculty to travel on two wheels.

“It sends a message to the students that we’re taking sustainability seriously as an organization,” said Winslow. “We’re the only school in our group of community schools that has implemented a bike share program.”

That is one reason Tabor has been eager to jump onto the sustainability bandwagon: it helps make the school more competitive.

“We’re always comparing ourselves to other schools,” said Winslow, and sustainable strides make the campus more attractive to students and their families.

That means more initiatives will be on the way in coming years as Tabor takes cues from the environment, other private schools and its own community.