Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill yesterday became the first college in the nation to team up with Joe Kennedy’s Citizens Energy Corp. to go green. The 480-student women’s college will put up $1.5 million – just over the total amount it spent last year on fuel and electricity – to have the corporation upgrade its lighting, plumbing, boilers, heating, ventilation and air conditioning to make them more energy-efficient.

In return, the school will save about $350,000 a year, Joe Kennedy said. “This is pioneering,” he said. “Ultimately, we hope to make what we’re doing here an example to every college.”