.Power Of Persistence

By AL LARA - The Hartford Courant - May 22, 2001

It's one thing to get average college students to endorse the idea of renewable energy. It's quite another to get them to pay for it out of their own pockets.

But that's exactly what Sarah Zisa and her friends at Connecticut College have managed to do. The New London school has become what officials believe to be the first college in the nation to commit to buying electricity produced from renewable sources. Sarah Zisa, a sophomore who is an Environmental Studies major and co-president of the Conn. College Renewable Energy Club, stands out in front of two classmates who helped get the college to switch to environmentally sound electricity for the campus starting in the fall. In the background are Kasandra Rohrbach (left) and Daniel Leptuck an Economics major who is Connecticut College's Environmental Coordinator.

More interestingly, more than three-quarters of the student body signed a petition seeking a $25 increase in student activity fees to pay for the difference between the cost of "green" power and regular electricity.

"It's just unbelievable that these students were able to not only get other students to understand energy choice, but get them to open their wallets. It's unheard of," said Robert A. Maddox Jr. of the Hartford-based nonprofit Connecticut Energy Cooperative, which is acting as the school's energy broker and supplier.

For the students, it was a matter of persistence. Their campaign started last fall. They had to convince administrators, then fellow students, then the student government, and lastly the school's trustees.

Zisa, a sophomore from West Hartford, and Kassie Rohrbach, from Washington state, were in an environmental studies class together last fall when the class members discussed ways in which they could have a significant, positive effect on the environment.

"We wanted to set an attainable goal that the school could get behind," Zisa said. They considered renewable power.

Most electricity in the United States is produced by nuclear power and power plants burning fossil fuels, such as oil or coal. So-called "green power" is produced from renewable sources, such as hydro-power plants, windmill farms, solar cells, and power plants that burn methane and other gases recovered from landfills.

The students met with Claire L. Laudiani, then the college's president, who was supportive, but skeptical. The students would have to raise the money to pay for the energy cooperative's one-time, $1,500 fee. They also had to produce $40,000 annually to make up the difference between buying regular electricity and buying the more expensive green power.

And after all that, they still had to convince the college's trustees.

Zisa and her friends raised the $1,500 fee through organic cookie sales. But for the $40,000, they would have to appeal directly to the more than 1,650 students' pocketbooks.

They drafted a petition, and circulated it around campus. They kept their fellow students informed and involved by holding panel discussions and special lunches about energy choice, and by putting up explanatory posters and banners.

In February, they recognized that they needed more help, so a Renewable Energy Club was formed, and new members were enlisted in the campaign.

"We needed a body of students that was committed to this," Zisa said. The students were trained to understand the ins and outs of electric choice and renewable energy.

"We had them go door to door and talk to every single person on campus," Zisa said. "If we're going to convince them to give us $25, they're going to have questions."

The students estimate that they reached 76 percent of the student body with their petition. Of those, 98 percent signed it. Of the school's 1,666 students, 1,247 signed. Organizers won over the student government, which forwarded the request to the school's trustees. The trustees approved the plan May 5. The college will still get the bulk of its power from non-green sources. But nearly 20 percent will come from renewable sources. It will be used to power the school's athletic center and all of the outbuildings on campus.

Zisa said that would reduce by 11 percent the amount of air pollutants for which the college's energy consumption was previously responsible.

Maddox said that during the course of a year, the change would reduce the emission of acid-rain-causing sulfur oxide by more than 17,254 pounds, smog-causing nitrogen oxide by 3,612 pounds, and carbon dioxide by 2.3 million pounds.

Beyond purchasing green power, students have pledged to cut their energy use, and the energy cooperative will work with the college to use energy more efficiently.

The college's switch to green power will start in September

E.I.C    UO Home    Facilities    Others    Sitemap    Contact Us   UO Printshop