CSUs
become environmental example
By
Cristina Madrid
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
The California State University system has become a national environmental
leader after the CSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved a university clean
energy policy last week.
The revised policy on energy conservation, sustainability building practices
and physical plant management, will create new goals for the university system
to further promote the principles of energy conservation, energy independence,
renewable energy and sustainability according to a press release from the CSU
Chancellor ’s office.
As part of the policy, the CSU must purchase 20 percent of its electricity
from renewable resources, which include solar energy, fuel cells and biopower,
by 2010. An additional goal of the policy includes the installation of 10 megawatts
of solar and other renewable power on campuses by 2014.
The third goal states
any new or major renovated buildings must follow a high-performance green building
standard known as Leadership in Energy and Environemental Design (LEED).
The policy is the creation of a student campaign called Renew CSU, whose two-year
effort to “implement environmentally sound practices for the CSU system,” as
stated in their mission statement, has come true.
Tylor Middlestadt, coordinator
of the Renew CSU campaign, said, “This policy will primarily reduce energy
consumption by generating renewable energy and by designing buildings to be
more efficient.”
Renew CSU, Green peace and environmental experts testified before the CSU Board
of Trustees Sept. 21 and highlighted several environmental reasons for the
implementation of this policy.
These include climate change, pollution of fossil
fuel emission gases and advantages in renewable energy usage, Middlestadt said.
Lonnie Dupre, an artic explorer and one of the experts in favor of this policy
at the meeting, recalled his artic exploration studies of the melting of the
polar ice caps due to global warming. He strongly believed the policy could
help.
Nearly 14,000 students, staff, faculty, administrators and several California
legislators such as the state treasurer, assembly speaker and cabinet secretary
were strong advocates of this policy who urged the trustees to approve it.
The statewide measure will make the CSU system the nation’s leading institution
whose efforts through this policy can reduce the effects of global warming,
Middlestadt said.
Additionally, the CSU system is the sixth in the nation to require building
standards to be LEED certified and one of the top five in the country with
clean electricity purchases and onsite renewable energy, according to a Chancellor’s
Office press release.
This policy will reduce carbon emissions by 80,000 tons
annually by 2010, a 17 percent reduction from 2004 levels, Middlestadt said.
The policy will go into effect immediately. There are no dollar figures projected
for funding such a technologically concentrated measure, but Middlestadt said
the costs will vary campus to campus.
However, students should be pleased to
find that they won’t have to subside the measure because the CSU budget
will be saving money on its energy usage.
“
This new policy will allow more of the general procreation budget to go toward
academics as opposed to energy operations,” Middlestadt said.
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