Austin Peay State University (Southern Energy Network)
Passed Green Energy Fee Referendum
Students Organized to Advance Renewable Energy (SOARE) at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN organized a student body vote in January to approve a $10 per student per semester Renewable Energy Fee that will increase energy efficiency and the use renewable energy for the campus. The referendum was approved by an overwhelming 83% majority. The fee increase must be approved by the Tennessee Board of Regents in June 2007. SOARE has used this victory to leverage even more support for climate action: because of education and advocacy from the students at APSU, the mayor of Clarksville is now entertaining the prospect of joining the Cool Cities pledge. He will host a weekend working group to investigate the advantages and costs of Cool Cities in June.
College of the Holy Cross (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
CFL ExchangeMeghan Tighe and her Eco-Action group at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts convinced their physical plant to sponsor a CFL exchange for their campus.
Holy Cross (Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC))
Light Bulb Exchange
Through meetings with administrators and physical plant staff, the Eco Action group at Holy Cross coordinated a light bulb exchange program this spring. This exchange encouraged students to replace incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFL). This program will be a pilot for the larger bulb exchange initiative starting in the fall.
Creighton University (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
Patrick Sechser, Anastasia Yanchilina and their group at Creighton University in Missouri succeeded in implementing small but significant changes at Creighton this year.
Dorm Retrofits Thanks to their work, Creighton is putting in new oxygenated shower-heads in their dorms to reduce water loss, and has installed compact fluorescent bulbs to cut down on energy costs.
Duke University (Students United from a Global Social Environment (SURGE))
“SmartHome” Residence HallStudent efforts at Duke have led to the commitment by Duke, in partnership with Home Depot, to build the “SmartHome” Residence hall - http://www.smarthome.duke.edu/ - which will be a living and learning lab for campus sustainability.
Fort Lewis College (Black Mesa Water Coalition)
The key leaders are David and Matt. Building Metering Small Axe and Small Steps student organization encouraged their campus to make a commitment to add a metering system to a building for energy monitoring, conservation and energy efficiency use.
Massachusetts (Student PIRGS)
Computer Energy Efficiency Policy
Westfield State College implemented a computer sleep policy which turned off all the college computer lab machines at night and enabled sleep mode on them during the day. The school is projected to save over $40,000.00 in electricity costs annually, and prevent 484,085 tons of carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere. This is the equivalent of planting 66 acres of trees or taking 42 cars off the road for a year. Students Chris Gollnick, Paolo Di Girolamo, and Emily Duff led the effort. Realizing that the campus political climate was not very open to ambitious measures, they conducted a series of meetings with facilities staff and administrators to discuss relatively simple and cost effective measures to start with. After they persuaded facilities to crunch the cost savings numbers, the proposal sailed through with almost no effort. The students are now working to figure out the next initiative to push.
Missouri (Student PIRGS)
Campus-Wide Computer Energy Efficiency Policy
Through meetings with Meramec’s student government and the District Student Government Association, MOPIRG students passed a campus wide computer policy to put the computers to sleep after 10 minutes.
Reed College (Sierra Student Coalition (SSC))
There were several students involved with both of these successes, but the main SSC contact at Reed is graduating senior Christine Lewis, a long-time SSC leader. Christine helps to run the Green Board, a non-hierarchical group of environmentally concerned Reed students that works on issues like energy efficiency, composting, and general sustainability at Reed. Their strategy is largely an insider one – they have student representatives on the college’s sustainability committee, and have good relations with the administration. The students at Reed College in Portland, OR achieved two Challenge victories during the 2006-2007 school year.
Convinced School to Purchase 1,000 CFLs
The students worked with the school to purchase 1,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs that will be used in college apartments, language houses, and an on-campus dorm. Student Leaders - Co-presidents: Rachel Clement, Meredith Epstein, Vice President: Mary Clapp, Treasurer: Anna Vaudin, Secretary: Shane Hall
Energy Stat Million Monitor Drive
Talloires Declaration, Energy Star Million Monitor Drive, EPA Green Power Partner On April 19th SMCM President, Maggie O'Brien, publicly committed to the Talloires Declaration, Energy Start Million Monitor Drive, and the EPA Green Power Partnership. By joining the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Energy Star Million Monitor Drive,” St. Mary’s College of Maryland will save energy, money and the environment by putting its computer monitors to “sleep”. Working closely with such federal agencies as the EPA and the Department of Energy, St. Mary’s College of Maryland has enabled the power management features on 327 computer monitors and will add 473 more by July 2007. http://www.smcm.edu/newsevents/release.cfm?id=519 http://www.smcm.edu/newsevents/release.cfm?id=554
University of Guelph (Sierra Youth Coalition)
Lobbied for $10.4 Million Dollar Retrofit for Energy Efficiency
At Guelph University, the Renewable Energy Group under the Guelph Students for Environmental Change volunteer committee successfully lobbied their campus to engage in a $10.4 energy retrofit. The university has agreed to replace all incandescent light bulbs as a starting point and will be assessing computer monitors and other energy saving devices over the upcoming years.
University of Kentucky (Southern Energy Network)
Students at the University of Kentucky ran a successful campaign for student approval of a green energy fee with over 60% of students voting approving a fee increase for renewable energy in the spring of 2006. Students from the GreenThumb group continued to work with the administration on the fee proposals, which were slated to go before the Board of Trustees in February. Unfortunately, the administration decided at the last minute to take the fee proposal off the meeting agenda. Students worked with the Southern Energy Network to increase the pressure on key administrators from students, youth, alumni and citizens around the Southeast and the nation to approve the fee. After a flood of calls and emails, administrators decided not to approve the fee.
5-10% Reduction in Energy UsageAs a result of the increased pressure, the school committed to reducing energy usage by 5-10%.
University of North Carolina & Chapel Hill (Students United from a Global Social Environment (SURGE))
Re-working Town Zoning Ordinances to Incorporate Energy Efficiency
SURGE, student leaders and other nonprofit allies attended Town Council meetings to comment on the University’s energy use (during re-zoning hearings) and began regular meetings with UNC campus architects and facilities management staff, as well as Town Council members. As a result, the University is seeking innovative green design and energy conservation measures to make new development a “model of sustainability” and the Town of Chapel Hill is establishing a new sustainability committee which will begin re-working town zoning ordinances to incorporate energy efficiency requirements.
University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (Southern Energy Network)
Green Fee Referendum
Ecological Decisions for a Global Environment (EDGE) led a successful campaign this semester at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga, where 847 students voted in support of the Clean Campus Initiative. With 12% of the total student population in support of bringing renewable energy, efficiency, recycling, and other sustainability efforts to the campus the upcoming year should prove to be exciting. The campus is currently researching electric bus routes and sustainable fuels.
Virginia Tech University (Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN))
Student Leaders - Netanya Huska, Sara Breakiron, and Katelyn Keefe.
Internal Loan Fund for Efficiency Projects
In the spring of 2005 students began planning a Green Fee campaign to demonstrate student willingness to pay for energy efficiency projects on campus. The fee proposal ($6/student/semester) levied on both undergraduate and graduate students to raise money to reinstate the daily recycling program and to fund more energy efficiency projects. For a year and a half student leaders collected 7,100 signatures. Through these signatures, leaders passed resolutions of support through both the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Graduate Student Association (GSA). After these resolutions were passed, students began to meet with the head of the budget office to discuss implementing a green fee. As students continued to meet with university official they realized they were strongly against a fee due to logistical barriers and thus changed strategy. Students realized that they needed to push for the same goals (reinstating daily recycling, increased funding towards energy efficiency projects) and use campus media as a powerful tool for getting the administration to pay for it. Students encouraged the budget office to find the money elsewhere, and they followed through. It was through meetings with the budget office and a presentation to the Board of Visitors by student BOV representative, that the goals of the fee were accomplished - the universities is using an internal loan fund to complete more energy efficiency projects funded through the Budget Office. Initially, the University committed to a pilot project in Whittemore Hall, when students demanded that more action needed to be taken. Six other buildings have been listed for retrofits starting next year. Other projects include construction of the first LEED certified building next year. Through the sustainability website, reinstating daily recycling, and giving increased funding to energy efficiency projects, the best thing that the campaign accomplished was to raise awareness within the administration that the environment is an important issue to students and not something they can ignore
Warren Wilson (Students United from a Global Social Environment (SURGE))
Warren Wilson has by far been a leader in campus sustainability initiatives in North Carolina.
Built an EcoDorm
The University built an EcoDorm that will function as a living community for about thirty students while showcasing numerous environmentally conscious features. Rainwater is collected for use in toilets, photovoltaic window awnings provide renewable energy to the building, composting toilets reduce water use, solar hot water panels harvest heat from the sun to heat water, natural day lighting reduces electricity consumption, and a permaculture landscape provides seasonal foods for residents.
Wisconsin (Student PIRGS)
Ground Breaking Energy Efficiency Policy
WISPIRG’s role starts a few years back, with its successful statewide advocacy for renewable energy and efficiency standards (which helped build Doyle’s support for the issue) and for its successful effort to pass a groundbreaking energy efficiency policy at the UW’s Madison campus (which Doyle credited an inspiration for the four-campus initiative).
Worcester State College in Worcester, Massachusetts
National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellow Christopher Noonan hosted an Earth Day event where students hung nest boxes and planted trees.
CFL Exchange
He created an interpretive trail on campus that points out various environmentally-friendly practices on campus and held a light bulb exchange where students could get compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) for turning in incandescent bulbs. Chris also set up a speaker series and panel discussions on various sustainable topics and surveyed students to gauge environmental practices on campus.