Students for Green Fee

Across the nation, dozens of college campuses have instituted an increase in semester fees to help their institutions become more environmentally sustainable. GCSU students are following suit by making efforts to enact a mandatory ‘green fee’.

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education reports renewable energy fees at universities nationwide ranging from $1 to $20 per semester. The money is used to purchase or generate renewable energy and fund the installation of alternate energy and energy conservation technologies on campus.

The GCSU Green Initiative, along with the Environmental Science Club, has made great efforts in attaining a campus-wide green fee. After proposing the green fee to SGA and receiving its formal support the green fee was also approved by the Mandatory Student Fee Committee. The green fee was then approved by President Leland, after being lowered from $5 to $4 per semester, and is now set to appear on the Board of Regents’ April agenda.

“We’re extremely lucky to have Doug [Oetter],” said Justin Morgan, president of the Environmental Science Club. “He has really fueled the Green Initiative and this entire approval process.”

The Green Initiative is now the official group to propose and suggest recommendations to the university regarding the environment.

If the GCSU green fee is approved by the Board of Regents, GCSU will be the first public university in the state of Georgia to have a green fee approved by all of these entities.

A Sustainability Council, headed by Pete Sheilds, a business and finance professor, would report annually to the Student Fee Committee on the green fee’s yearly progress. The council will make sure the green fee is working and evoking change and progress on campus.

Other universities with green fees typically use the money for recycling programs, research initiatives, carbon offsets, and energy conservation.

However for GCSU, a green baby with very little research and knowledge of its current carbon footprint, much of the green fee would be allocated toward monitoring equipment and gathering data.

“In order to improve our sustainability we have to better understand how to go about it,” said Dr. Doug Oetter, associate professor of history, geography and philosophy.

For example, water at GCSU comes into the campus from approximately 40 or 50 different accounts. This means that water is being measured by different meters all over campus, resulting in a river of scattered data.

According to City Manager Scott Wood, the city is also looking into the introduction of new meters to more accurately assess the amount of water being used.

“More accurate numbers concerning energy expenditures,” said Wood, “means a certain amount of transparency for students and the community. This sort of transparency leads to knowledge and ultimately to change.”

Taking step towards knowledge and transparency starts one step at a time.

“I don’t think people even know how much they are using and consuming,” said Oetter.

In 2008, according to Kevin Murner, a former associate director at Physical Operations, who now works to monitor and mediate all of GCSU’s energy usage, nearly $2.25 million was spent on keeping GCSU’s two million square feet of residential and academic space heated and cooled. These are significant numbers considering the school’s recent budget cuts and do not include water or fuel usage.

Energy monitors for every building, made possible by the green fee, will help to accurately pinpoint specific areas of high energy waste so efforts can be made to conserve, renew and reuse.

The green fee would also be used to minimize the university’s carbon footprint, increase alternative transportation-such as bike paths-and work towards creating a more rigorous recycling program at the school. Having teachers provide online class materials is also a developing idea.

“We’ve got to get people in Georgia to recognize that the time for sustainability is now,” said Oetter. “We cannot keep putting it off.”

The green fee proposal for GCSU will be making an appearance on Board of Regents agenda this April for approval or denial.

The Environmental Science Club will be taking signatures for the ‘Green Fee Petition’ during Earth Week, April 20th-25th, around the fountain.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on May 1 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry