100% Renewable Energy at PLU
In 2007, GREAN led an initiative to introduce a "green fee" to students' tuition, which would allow PLU to buy green tags for the residence halls as well as fund a conservation-related project. The initiative passed and was implemented for the first time during the 2008-2009 school year. |
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How did we go about it?GREAN circulated a resolution for three weeks in April. The resolution stated that students are willing to pay an extra amount of tuition, $20/year that will then go towards the purchasing of green tags and towards energy conservation implementation on campus. Once over 1100 signatures had been gathered, GREAN then took the resolution to ASPLU who accepted it. The resolution was passed by the Board of Regents in 2008 and is currently in effect, beginning the 2008-2009 school year. What are Green Tags?Green tags, Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), or Tradable Renewable Certificates (TRCs), are the property rights to the environmental benefits from generating electricity from renewable energy sources. These certificates can be sold and traded and the owner of the REC can legally claim to have purchased renewable energy. While traditional carbon emissions trading programs promote low-carbon technologies by increasing the cost of emitting carbon, RECs incentivize carbon-neutral renewable energy by providing a subsidy to electricity generated from renewable sources. In states which have a REC program, a green energy provider (such as a wind farm) is credited with one REC for every 1,000 kWh of electricity it produces (for reference, an average residential customer consumes about 300 kWh in a month). A certifying agency gives each REC a unique identification number to make sure it doesn't get double-counted. The green energy is then fed into the electrical grid (by mandate), and the accompanying REC can then be sold on the open market. What about the projects?Each year, the students on the Sustainability Committee will put together a conservation-related project, using 20% of the green fee funds. Take Back the Tap is the project for the 2008-2009 school year. |
What is renewable energy? Renewable energy refers to electricity supplied from renewable energy resources such as: » Wind Power » Solar Power » Geothermal Power » Qualified, small-scale hydro » Gas from various forms of biomass .
The resolutionClick here to read the full resolution |
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