This week’s launch coincides with the opening week of classes on
most campuses, and is coordinated with the newly founded,
student-led group the Sustainability Coalition that has chapters on
all of the nine UC campuses. For the next 10 days, Greenpeace will
be providing solar power for student concerts, rallies, and parties
in the hopes of getting thousands of letters written to UC
President, Richard Atkinson, asking him to support clean renewable
energy and green buildings on all of the campuses.
“This is a great opportunity for the UC system to become a
national leader in clean energy, setting the bar for other
educational institutions, while also working to solve the problem
of global warming,” explained Kristin Casper, Greenpeace
Campaigner. Casper also noted that on-site, renewable energy
provides reliable power that is immune to rapid price swings in
energy prices, like those experienced in California over the last
two years.”
Greenpeace’s campaign supports the student-based group’s demand
to the UC Board of Regents to adopt at its November meeting a
policy of:
- 25 percent on-site, renewable energy for all new buildings
(this will be met primarily through solar energy), and additional
purchase of 25 percent renewable energy from power companies, upon
availability. - Silver LEED certification for all new and renovated buildings,
LEED is a green building guideline developed by the U.S. Green
Building Council.
This summer, the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD)
adopted a similar green building and renewable energy policy.
Although the LACCD is smaller than the UC system, the positive
impact was significant. Over the next five years, the District will
build 40 to 50 new buildings at the Silver LEED level, install up
to 10 megawatts of solar power, and purchase an additional 5 to 15
percent clean renewable energy from utilities. The new solar
installations at the LACCD alone will prevent over 137 million tons
of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere, or the
equivalent of removing at least 2.2 million cars from the road for
one year over the lifetime of the panels.
“This clean energy policy would be
good for UC campuses, good for UC’s budget and good for the
environment,” said UC Berkeley student Guadalupe Bumatay. “Earlier
this year the Los Angeles Community College District committed to a
10 percent on-site renewable energy generation, because they saw
that it makes economic and environmental sense. Now UC can take it
a step further.”
