Progressive Campus Resource Conservation

February 27, 2002
WINDPOWER AT LEWIS AND CLARK!!!
Lewis and Clark Students to Pay $17,000 to Become First College to Meet the Kyoto Protocol

The Chartering and Budgeting Commission of the Associated Students of Lewis
and Clark (ASLC) today announced that they were allocating $17,000 in student
fees to bring Lewis and Clark College into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol,
an international agreement that committed the United States to reduce its GHG
emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels. This action is the first of its kind to
be initiated by students on a college campus in this country.

It came despite recent refusal by the Lewis and Clark Board of Trustees to
approve a $10 increase in per student annual fees to pay for Kyoto compliance
because of concerns about the "earmarking" of funds for a specific expenditure.
ASLC had requested the fee increase after a special election, recently praised
in a statement by District 3 Congressperson and Lewis and Clark alumni Earl
Blumenauer, in which 83 percent of voting students supported such an
increase.

"This remarkable effort by the students of Lewis and Clark College
demonstrates the power and commitment of individuals to find commonsense
solutions to environmental problems on their campus and beyond," remarked
Kathleen Cacciola, NWF's Campus Ecology coordinator.

The money will be used to purchase over 3,250 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)
emissions reductions in the form of "offsets." Purchasing offsets is essentially
providing funding to projects that reduce GHG emissions - green energy
projects or tree plantings, for example - and subtracting the amount reduced
from the offset purchaser's total emissions. ASLC will purchase the offsets at a
price of $5 per ton of CO2 reduced from the Climate Trust
(www.climatetrust.org), a non-profit organization that meets the requirements of
Oregon law (HB 3283) to sell offsets to new fossil fuel energy facilities built in
Oregon which are required to avoid, sequester, or displace a portion of their
GHG emissions. The Climate Trust's offsets currently come from a wind power
project in Oregon, a landfill gas collection power project in Washington, a
forestry preservation project with the Lummi Indian Tribe and the Northwest
Indian College in Washington, and a car pool matching program in Oregon.

According to an inventory of the college's emissions of greenhouse gases
performed this past summer as a student/faculty research project, Lewis and
Clark was responsible for 23,500 tons of CO2 emissions in 1990 and 24,000
tons of CO2 in 2000. Therefore, allowing for some uncertainty in measurement,
a reduction of 3,250 tons to 21,150 tons - 10 percent below 1990 levels - will
insure that the college has achieved the Kyoto targets. Although several
colleges have committed to meeting the specifications of the Kyoto Protocol, no
college has yet officially declared Kyoto-compliance.

The efforts to bring Lewis and Clark College into compliance with the Kyoto
Protocol were spearheaded by Julian Dautremont-Smith, a National Wildlife
Federation Campus Ecology Fellow. NWF's Fellowship Program offers a
nationally recognized opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to
pursue their vision of an ecologically sustainable future, through tangible
projects to green their campuses and communities. "This is a great day for
campus democracy," stated proposal initiator Julian Dautremont-Smith, who
lauded the members of the Chartering and Budgeting Commission for finding
room to fund Kyoto compliance within the existing budget.

University of Colorado Students Vote "Yes" For Wind Power!
BOULDER, April 17, 2000 (CU Environmental Center)

University of Colorado Students Vote
"Yes" For Wind Power!

In the largest student voter turnout in University of
Colorado history, students voted by a 5 to 1 margin to
increase student fees by $1 per semester for 4 years to
purchase wind power from Public Service Company of
Colorado's Ponnequin wind farm. This clean, renewable
source of energy will lower campus emissions of CO
by 2.8 million pounds every year.

The increase in fees will raise $50,000 per year, enough
to purchase the output of an entire wind turbine (2
million kWh per year), making CU-Boulder the largest
university purchaser of wind power in the nation! The
issue was placed on the ballot after 1,300 students
signed a petition in favor of purchasing wind for 3 buildings
on campus (the Student Union, the Health Center, and the
Recreation Center). Students votes showed an
overwhelming amount of support of wind energy, with
5,178 in favor and 1,096 opposed, the largest margin of
any referendum on this spring's ballot.

Many volunteers from the student group Clean Energy Now!
along with the Land and Water Fund of the
Rockies ran a week long campaign including handing out
colorful pinwheels and information about wind power
and its benefits. A "CU wind farm" comprised of hundreds
of pinwheels covered a lawn in the center of campus.

"You couldn't walk around campus without seeing students
carrying pinwheels," said Ghita Levenstein , the
Energy Program Coordinator of the Environmental Center,
"we hope this is just the beginning of the use of clean
energy here at CU, as well as an model for other
Universities and organizations to follow." CU students have a
history of environmental leadership. The campus
recycling program was started in response to student activism
as was the student bus pass program.

We salute the initiative of CU students to address the
global issue of reducing the use of fossil fuels. This action
will allow the University to take an important first
step in responding to what may be the biggest environmental
and economic issue of this century ," stated Rudd Mayer,
Green Energy Program Director at the Boulder based
Land and Water Fund of the Rockies, a regional group
that works on clean energy policies in the west.

Will Toor, director of the CU Environmental Center and
Mayor of Boulder said, "It's inspiring to see such
support for environmental protection from CU's students.
They are showing that they are willing to back up their
values with their money."

Pictures of the campaign and the Ponnequin wind farm are
available, please call (303)492-3229 for copies.

CONTACT:
University of Colorado Environmental Center
University of Colorado, Campus Box 207 Boulder, CO 80309

Ghita Levenstein, CU Environmental Center/ CleanEnergy Now! (303) 492-3229
Wendy Hunter, CU Environmental Center/ CleanEnergy Now! (303) 492-8308
Rudd Mayer, Land and Water Fund of the Rockies(303) 444-1188 ext. 227

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 sophmore 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

CMU in forefront of environmentally sound energy use
Sunday, June 03, 2001
By Linda Dickerson

In an effort to practice what it preaches, Carnegie Mellon University made a
commitment to begin to buy environmentally friendly energy next year. This
move is particularly bold because this energy can cost up to 40 percent more
than other depletable energy sources. CMU will rely on wind power to supply
5 percent of its energy needs next year at an estimated additional cost of $80,000 annually.

Environmental education and research ranked among Carnegie Mellon's top
four priorities in its recently released strategic plan. The CMU environmental
practices committee challenged the university to act upon information that
it disseminates regularly in its classrooms and laboratories concerning the
deleterious environmental consequences associated with traditional energy
sources.

"How do we put a price on having acidified orange streams without fish?"
asked David Dzombak, chair of the committee. By paying a premium for 5
percent of its energy, Carnegie Mellon makes a powerful statement about the
value of a healthy environment. Dzombak refers to this decision as "an
awareness and educational tool."

In addition to enhancing the environment, the university seeks to send a
message to its students and faculty about the importance of conservation.
"Environment and health benefits are difficult to have considered in the
price of traditional energy," said Dzombak, who contends that dollars and
cents are not the exclusive means to evaluate an energy purchase.

CMU officials believe this decision will return value to it by clearly
establishing it as a pioneer on the environmental front. In some ways, the
decision is a positioning statement. "We've had environmental education and
research at the graduate level since the late '50s, but it hasn't touched a
lot of people who came through here," lamented Dzombak.

Hoping that the decision to convert partially to wind-generated electrical
power will awaken national, if not international, attention, the university
expects its decision to provide a return in the number and caliber of
students pursuing environmental studies.

Citing among the reasons to buy wind power "a desire to provide leadership
in environmentally sustainable practices," CMU President Jared Cohon
acknowledged CMU's goal to become a significant player in environmental and
related fields. "Environmental studies isn't on the top of the list of
attractors for coming to the university," Dzombak conceded.

"Our commitment makes us the largest retail purchaser of wind power in the
U.S.," Dzombak said. "Wind power is still a small contributor to the
overall energy mix, but it's growing."

By capitalizing on what will likely be an ephemeral position atop the wind
power heap, CMU can return value that will at least partially compensate for
its increased energy expenditures. To further compensate, CMU anticipates
that its endorsement of environmental sustainability will spark a
universitywide commitment to conservation.

"It is a university challenge to find ways to reduce energy use in order to
recoup extra costs," Dzombak said.

He believes that including a component of renewable energy in CMU's overall
energy purchases presents "an opportunity for the entire staff, faculty and
student body to participate in environmental practices."

CMU's stature as the nation's No. 1 retail user of wind power will certainly
engender a heightened sensitivity toward energy conservation among internal
audiences that can substantially impact the university's usage patterns.
"Every day, people make decisions that have an environmental impact,"
Dzombak noted.

Naturally, he now expects them to make better decisions. "The lack of
thought about what we do today and what it means for future generations
concerns me," Dzombak said.

What happens to future generations is no longer in the hands of a
relatively
exclusive group of environmentalists, he added. "There's now a broad
distributed responsibility for environmental conservation."

CMU's significant investment in wind power demonstrates that it understands
and accepts this responsibility. The university's commitment earned it the
display of its logo atop the wind turbine that Exelon will construct in
Fayette County to supply CMU's energy needs.

May this be the first of many acknowledgments that CMU receives for its
progressive thinking and desire to invest in the future. Andrew Carnegie
would be proud -- especially if the wind turbine were built of steel.

Linda A. Dickerson is a principal in Dickerson & Mangus Ink., an issues
consulting firm. Her column appears weekly.

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