Penn State Recognized for Green Efforts

Transcript

Klatt
5-percent of Penn Stateís energy bill used to sound like thisÖ

SFX: whoosh, whoosh of a windmill

Klatt
Ö.In addition to this windmill, solar power, biomass, and hydroelectricity now provide 20-percent of the energy used at Penn State.

Klatt
Thatís quadruple the amount of the renewable energy the school purchased six years ago. And people are starting to notice.

Earlier this MONTH Penn State and a student environmental activism group called EcoAction received a Green Power award. The award is one of several presented each year by environmental group PennFuture to highlight individuals and groups who take significant steps to conserve energy in Pennsylvania.

Penn State senior Brittany Harris is President of EcoAction. Harris says Penn Stateís 20% clean energy purchase is a big step forward, But itís only one part of the most important number: 12-percent. Thatís how much Penn State aims to see harmful emissions (- like the oneís we get from burning coal -) drop below the 2005-2006 baseline level over the next 5 years. Speaking from her groupís office in the student union, Harris said thatís more than you might think.

Harris
That doesnít seem like a lotÖand at first we were a little upsetÖbut when they actually explained it to us, with the construction of the new law school that would have shot emissions up drastically.

Klatt
Meeting with ìthemî means sitting down with Office of Physical Plant spokesman Paul Ruskin. His office helps the administration decide where the schoolís energy should come from. Sitting at a conference table across from perhaps Penn Stateís most well known energy drain: Beaver Stadium -- Ruskin told me the commitment to renewable energy benefits two things across Pennsylvania: the environment and its business.

Ruskin
We want to reduce the pollution that is produced when you make the energy. We want to help the alternative energy industry understand that there is a big market for what theyíre producing. By increasing our purchase we are helping them sell more, therefore they can bring down their prices for everyone.

Klatt
But Ruskin knows the administration canít just buy their way out of this crisis. Behavior has to change. And that turns his focus to the students.

Ruskin
We estimate that 30% of our energy use on campus is controllable by individuals. When they make the right choices, weíre all better off.

Harris is right there with him. She says something as simple as remembering to unplug an iPod charger or shutting down and idle computer will make a huge difference.

Harris
We have a large control over that portion of the reduction. People are plugging in iPods and all these little technologies these days. So if students make a reduction we have the potential to reduce overall.

Klatt
So the big question both groups are asking themselves now is: Will students take personal responsibility and change their habits?

EcoAction bets the answer is ëyesí. The group is coordinating several new projects to convince students small changes to their daily habits make a big difference to the bottom-line. One up-and-coming project has been designed by a group of business-minded engineering students. The project is really more of a challenge. Harris says itís aimed at freshman students who live in high-rises on the east side of campus.

Harris
Itís called the SAVE program. Theyíve created this dorm energy challenge for East Halls. Theyíre actually going to be meters set up outside every dorm building. Theyíll keep an eye on the energy consumption for each building. Thatíll be displayed in real time in the dining commons so that every student can see how theyíre doing. And see how that goes up once the heating season begins.

Klatt
All of this delights geoscience professor Dr. Richard Alley.

Alley
I think itís beautiful.

Klatt
Heís wearing a beaming smile after his 6-mile bike ride to work on a warmer-than-usual October day. Alley has a lot to smile about these days. Heís one of five Penn State professors who share a sliver of the Nobel Prize that was given last week to both Al Gore and the UNís Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Alley works as an adviser to both.

Alley
I think the commitment from Old Main to do the right thing for the world , for the environment AND for the tax-payers and tuition payers. Old Main is looking very carefully at trying to make things that do good by doing well and do well by doing good.

Klatt
Brittany Harris and EcoAction are happy to agree with the administration for once. The Green Power award represents years of hard work ñ including a sit-in that lasted three days to demand Penn State set a goal to address itís impact on climate change.

Harris
Itís nice to be recognized. Nice to see some other organizations are acknowledging what weíre doing.

Klatt
The 20% renewable energy purchase puts Penn State third on the Environmental Protection Agencyís most recent Green Power Partners ranking. The list is made up of the top colleges and universities who are committing to developing green power sources around the nation. For the Allegheny Front, Iím David Klatt.