The second is a quick mention of the East Coast Greenway in an article on climate mitigation efforts on Princeton University’s campus.

Enjoy!

Bringing together students and faculty from Queens College, Brooklyn College, CUNY Law, Baruch College and others, the event will begin at 3pm in Room 436 of Hunter North with a panel engineered to inspire further student involvement and innovation to accomplish sustainability goals such as the PlaNYC goal of 30% reduction in campus greenhouse gas emissions by 2017.

Panelists include CUNY students and staff, environmental documentary filmmaker Gianna Savoie, and myself, Director of the nonprofit Sustainable Energy Transition (SETenergy.org).

One highlight of the event for me is panelist and Hunter College student Noah Ginsburg who will describe progress in the deployment of 3 kW of solar power on Hunter College’s rooftop. He helped to start an initiative last Fall to get funding for a solar demonstration site on one of the four campus buildings. And by Earth Day on Wednesday, they had raised the necessary $35,000 to deploy the solar and begin an educational program that makes the project a public learning site for fellow CUNY students and the community.

While a 3 kW system will not power the whole building by any means, the educational component will help the people of New York City get to know solar power. And the site aims to help catalyze much more solar at Hunter College (up to ~150 kW) and throughout the city (scores of MW). Congratulations Noah and the whole team at Hunter Solar Project! I look forward to visiting the solar array myself once it is installed this Fall.

After Noah speaks, I will share some details about two of SET’s programs:
•    the Solar College Initiative – helping campuses in New York, New Jersey and North Carolina accelerate the deployment of solar.
•    Manhattan Bike Share – supporting the development of a convenient, green bicycle share throughout interested neighborhoods of New York City

Here’s to a great event later today!

The campus became the only non-California campus in the country’s top 10, showing that the high insolation of the Southwest really does matter. But don’t worry East Coasters, Rutgers University in New Jersey will soon unveil a similar-sized system to help us keep our egos intact

More to Come

Arizona State University is not ready to stop at 1.88 MW. They have a plan to build another 5 MW on campus, which could give the campus top honors in solar deployment unless other schools act quickly to stake their claim.

Recent layoffs announced at some solar companies show how crucial higher education’s leadership to deploy solar in 2009-10 is. Without visionary moral leaders who see the importance of renewable energy industry’s health for the long-term (while externalities such as carbon dioxide emissions are vented without regulation today), the quick recent pace of solar industry innovation is at risk in our current recession.

Bottom line: Well done, Arizona State University! Your leadership is appreciated. Now it’s up to the rest of us to make this inspiring project drive a wave of solar, wind and efficiency deployment on hundreds more campuses nationwide.

As I wrote last week, the Solar College Initiative (SCI) went from idea to legitimate campus network at Powershift 2009 in DC. We now want to focus on solar success at 20 campuses around the country to establish our best practice standards at a variety of schools (large and small, public and private, from all major regions). We then plan for our expanded launch to take place in the Fall at 100+ institutions.

The pilot 20 campuses will be announced here by the beginning of April, based on survey responses, the quick development of Campus Teams (which include at least one representative from the student body, the campus staff, and an alumnus), and input from our ally peers such as the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) and Second Nature.

Please share this information and the survey link with people on campuses that may be interested in putting solar power systems up. As the price of solar falls throughout 2009, deploying this renewable energy will become a better and better opportunity for educational institutions interested in showing climate leadership across America and the world.

Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-

And solar is not the only renewable energy Atlantic City (AC) can brag about. In late 2005, AC built a 7.5 MW wind farm to power its wastewater treatment plant. The five 1.5 MW turbines have long been the only major wind installation in New Jersey, though the state plans to build an offshore wind farm in the early 2010s.

Of course, these solar and wind systems don’t mean Atlantic City is necessarily a perfect model for the sustainable energy transition ahead. AC is self-proclaimed “Always Turned On,” and many of those lights can probably use an upgrade to compact fluorescents and LEDs.

Nonetheless, Atlantic City definitely deserves some praise for their leadership in renewable energy deployment. And New Jersey also deserves kudos since state incentives were crucial to make these projects viable. Princeton University and other NJ institutions can get inspired to utilize more carbon-free renewables for their power needs as well.

Here’s to continued renewables and efficiency deployment to prevent us from needing to build any more fossil fuel-fired power plants throughout the US and beyond. Thanks for helping to lead the way, AC!

Powershift rally photo by Energy Action Coalition

What an amazing conference! Powershift not only built community among 12,000 active students and allies by bringing them under one roof. The gathering also inspired and empowered these young people and their colleagues to make a lasting impact from the campus to the federal policy level. One of the projects that benefited greatly from Powershift 2009 was the emerging Solar College Initiative.

Solar College Initiative (SCI) is a project that Sustainable Energy Transition is partnering to launch in conjunction with ally solar professionals throughout the country. We have been working for the last couple of months to lay the groundwork for an institution that simplifies and maximizes the deployment of solar power on campuses across America. And two Powershift panels on Sunday morning that featured the effort became the birth of SCI’s student arm.

The first panel was on the full array of clean energy options for campus and society — from solar, wind and geothermal to efficiency and smart grids. The second panel featured Project Director Jacob Travis along with panelists Jigar Shah (founder of Sun Edison) and Charlie Hemmeline (Deputy Director of Solar Market Transformation at the Department of Energy) who spoke to hundreds of students interested in putting solar on their campuses. Both panels fired up their audiences and got a total of more than 200 students from almost 150 campuses to sign-up to be a part of the Solar College Initiative.

These students plan to put solar on their campuses all over the country, from  Florida to Maine to Hawaii. So now Solar College Initiative has a base of great student activists to work from as we develop our list of 20 pilot campuses to engage beginning this Spring and then fine-tune our operations to engage 100+ campuses in the Fall.

For all the students that signed up, thank you and we will be in touch with you this week to learn about your efforts to this point. Once we receive a campus progress report, we will develop a strategy to best employ our resources to help you in the process of solar deployment. And then we can set up our Campus Teams of students, staff/faculty, and alumni and get to work.

For people that didn’t have a chance to sign-up, feel free to contact me to connect your campus.

And, again — to the organizers of Powershift 2009 and everyone that’s been involved in the Energy Action Coalition from the beginning:

Congratulations on another historic gathering poised to push our country and its thousands of campuses into global climate leadership!

Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-

Friday night photo by 1sky.org

I’ve been to dozens of student conferences over the last decade, but nothing on this scale. Powershift 2009 has over 10,000 students and youth filling spaces throughout the huge Washington Convention Center. The energy for change is truly contagious and inspiring!

Students are tenaciously committed to a clean energy revolution, and they are hopeful they can make it happen. With the size and power of this gathering, their hope is warranted. The speakers have been heavy-hitters with a lot to share, and the participants are just as full of insight.

I sat in on a Cleantech and Energy Policy workshop this morning where students asked experienced professionals from Google and the Global Environment Fund tough questions that dug deep into the crucial issues the energy and climate movement face. The level of awareness/consciousness among students shows how effective the Energy Action Coalition’s efforts have been.

Students are empowered, enlightened, and have now developed relationships with their federal leadership. The weekend’s supportive speakers include Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, EPA head Lisa Jackson, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Coalition has worked hard to deserve their attention, and I’m excited to see how big a fire they can light under our electeds to ensure their spoken support translates into climate results.

I know I’m not alone in being impressed by the organization and size of this conference. From a recent alumnus of this flowering student organizing world to the 50 organizations that make up the growing Energy Action Coalition:

You are grabbing the torch with both hands and making your mark on history! And that is exactly what our Earth’s climate needs. I’m excited to see what the next couple of days will bring.

Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-

The coalition is a partnership of ~50 diverse organizations from regional networks like SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment) which I was involved in and the Black Mesa Water Coalition to longstanding environmental organizations such as the Sierra Student Coalition and Greenpeace. They had their first national conference in DC in 2007 when 6,000 youth came from all 50 states. This year, almost twice that amount plan to come together in keynote speeches, panel workshops, and mass actions to demand our federal leaders stop dragging their feet and embrace climate progress.

I was proud to hear that Princeton SURGE anticipates a group of ~50 students will make the trip to DC and the campus Sustainability Office may support the trip. That is exactly the type of partnership that can make climate responsible policy inevitable – the marriage of student energy and innovation with institutional resources to accomplish common goals.

Congratulations to everyone involved in Energy Action and Powershift organizing thus far! And youth across America, I hope you get a chance to be part of this historical gathering February 27th-March 2nd, Powershift 2009.

Onwards-

Located off the main campus, the Princeton building is home to the Research Collections and Preservations Consortium (ReCAP), a collaborative initiative with Columbia University and the NY Public Library. The solar system includes ~5,000 panels covering ~53,000 square feet of roofspace. It will offset much of the building’s power needs, and may provide all its power during periods of low heating or cooling demand. The main investor for the project is Pennsylvania Power & Light, who can sell the SRECs and benefits from an investment tax credit.

This is a great step in the right direction for Princeton University. And I hope it will be the first of many sizable renewable energy applications to continue to drive downward the carbon intensity of Princeton endeavors. SET’s Princeton Alumni for Climate Excellence (PACE) effort aims to support a commitment to climate responsibility (at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020) and climate neutrality by 2030 through further deployment of solar, wind, and geothermal alongside its efficient natural gas cogeneration facility.

For alumni that haven’t endorsed the PACE statement yet, please do so here.

Onwards in the Sustainable Energy Transition-

Environmental engagement is no exception. In 1989, students at UNC-Chapel Hill started a new national organization and hosted an environmental conference that birthed the modern college environmental movement. They brought together over 1,500 students from more than 200 campuses to push environmental responsibility through the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC). As the 1990s rolled by, SEAC was joined by many other national student environmental organizations that learned from SEAC’s experience and aimed to tackle growing challenges such as global warming. UNC-Chapel Hill students remain a crucial catalyst for environmental progress by implementing solid projects like the solar story I share below.

Students involved in the UNC-CH chapter of SEAC and collaborating with other campus groups such as Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE), led a campaign to establish a fund for renewable energy on campus in 2002-03. The proposal was to build the fund from a $4 per semester increase in student fees. A grassroots campaign by a handful of student activists passed the fee in Student Congress legislation and by student referendum with 74.5% support during the February 2003 student government elections. The Chancellor, UNC-CH Trustees, and the UNC System Board of Governors all approved the fee during the following year.  The renewable energy fee passage made UNC-Chapel Hill the first campus in the Southeast with such a funding mechanism. And a February 2005 student referendum showed overwhelming on-campus support (85%) to continue the new program through 2009 at least.

The funds, which gather ~$200,000 per year, are distributed by a student and staff committee called the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee (RESPC). The first project funded was a solar thermal project integrated into the renovation of one of the major dorms on campus, Morrison (Aside: This South Campus dorm provided me with some excellent pick-up basketball games back in 1997-99). An RESPC contribution of $184,000 paid for a majority of the solar water-heating project for showers and washing machines. Partner funding of $137,455 was provided by a grant from North Carolina’s Energy Policy Council of the State Energy Office (a public state institution), accessed by an application process completed by students and staff working in collaboration. Now, the 179 solar panels totaling 3,183 square feet heats most of the water for the 1,000 students living in Morrison. The system is estimated to save more than $11,000 in energy costs every year.

This project has been so successful that students aim to add more solar installations to campus. The RESPC has set aside $160,000 toward 48 solar thermal panels to provide two thirds of the hot water needs of Fetzer Gymnasium and its pool. They also commissioned a feasibility study for an Integrated Photovoltaic Project at the campus astronomy observatory deck, Chapman Hall.

Students worked hard to establish their own financing for campus projects at my undergraduate alma mater, and now have the help of a staffed Sustainability Office and a supportive Administration that has signed the University President’s Commitment to Climate Neutrality. The campus currently utilizes great efficiency in its cogeneration power/heat plant — but it remains dependent on non-CCS coal. The good work of students these past few decades has brought solar to campus as an example of clean alternative energy. And continued student leadership ensures that solar will play a big role in the Tarheels’ energy future, making the campus a model for state of North Carolina and the Southeast.

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I’m proud to share that SET is leading Southeastern engagement in the Solar College Initiative which aims to spread and deepen such solar successes to scores of campuses all over the country in 2009 and beyond.