Report calls on U.S. universities and colleges to support renewables

BRIDGEPORT, Connecticut, US, November 16, 2005 (Refocus Weekly)

All colleges and universities in the United States should purchase or generate their electricity from renewable energy resources, suggests a new report on the potential for energy saving policies on educational campuses.

“College and university campuses are uniquely placed to affect America’s energy future,” explain the Apollo Alliance and the Campus Climate Challenge in the report, ‘New Energy for Campuses.’ The higher education sector spends US$317 billion a year and maintains thousands of buildings, spending “billions of dollars on fuel, energy and infrastructure.”

“If every one of the 4,000 campuses in the U.S. used 100% clean energy, it would nearly quadruple the current renewable electricity demand in the U.S.,” it explains. “Beyond just setting an example in efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy, colleges and universities should also make their efforts models of job creation and innovative financing.”

“Campuses can set an example for their communities and the nation by implementing alternative energy, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability projects on campus to demonstrate their feasibility and cost effectiveness,” it explains. “They are centers of intellectual power, capable of leading experiments on new technologies, and using these projects as teaching tools and research opportunities to better the education of the next generation of voters, consumers, politicians, and business leaders - people who will be making energy decisions for years to come.”

“Academia has traditionally been at the forefront of cultural and technological change, and campuses once again can be the catalyst that drives this county into sustainable energy independence,” it adds. “Installing renewable generating capacity on campus is a great way to reduce energy bills while educating the campus community about renewable energy.”

Depending on location, campuses can take advantage of solar, wind, biomass or geothermal resources, and heating water with solar or generating electricity that can be sold back to the utility under a net metering law can “help develop a market for renewable technologies, and display a visible public commitment to a sustainable energy future.” University buildings spend at least 22% of their energy budgets on electricity and 24% on heating water, and the report suggests that installation of earth energy heat pumps can reduce electricity consumption by 25% to 50%.

“Campuses can and should purchase some or all of their electricity from renewable sources” to reduce emissions of NOX, SO2 and other greenhouse gases, but also to “create good, environmentally friendly jobs and reduce our reliance on foreign resources.” The purchase of clean energy must cause the utility to increase its green power capacity, “rather than just buying existing capacity,” and 80 educational institutions in the U.S. are buying 500,000 MWh a year of green power, with five campuses powered fully by renewables.

Among the case studies examined is St. Olaf College which is constructing a 1.6 MW wind turbine at a cost of $1.9 million to generate 6 million kWh a year, which is one-third of the college’s requirements. The University of Colorado installed its first photovoltaic system in 2004, while the Oregon Institute of Technology has been tapping geothermal energy since 1964 to supply all heating for the eleven-building, 600,000 square foot campus. The University of Iowa is shifting its energy from coal to biomass, and the campus is allowed to sell emissions offsets to strengthen the system’s financial value.

“Our country is dependent on an old, outmoded, fossil-fuel energy system that is simultaneously speeding environmental degradation and making us less secure,” the report explains. “There is a better way.”

“The efforts to make colleges and universities models of a new energy policy should be carried out with an eye to the future,” and reforms with the greatest impact are those that can be institutionalized, rather than short-term or one-time projects. “Instead of building one demonstration green building, campuses should institute a high performance building policy or establish a revolving loan fund that couples projects that save money with those that have a longer payback time,” and “institutionalizing good energy policy ensures that the impact will persist long after any individual student, faculty or staff person has left campus.”

The Apollo Alliance is named after former president John Kennedy’s challenge to land a man on the moon within a decade, and its goal is to direct $300 billion in targeted investments towards achieving sustainable energy independence within a decade. Its ten-point plan includes expanding renewable energy development, promoting advanced technology and hybrid cars, encouraging high performance building, increasing the use of energy efficient appliances and improving transportation options.

Energy Action is a coalition of 25 student environmental and social justice organizations in the U.S. and Canada, created to unify the student global warming movement. It claims to be active on 1,500 campuses.


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