By Ana M. Alaya
Rutgers University is joining the latest green revolution
sweeping campuses nationwide with plans for a solar farm,
biofuels and other eco-friendly projects.
President Richard McCormick is scheduled to outline a
series of energy-saving initiatives designed to save the
state's largest university millions of dollars while
helping the planet during his annual speech to the college
community today in New Brunswick.
"We have a responsibility as a public university to
reduce energy usage, especially those that rely on fossil
fuels, and be efficient in our use of money," McCormick
said.
The initiatives include:
A five-year program to retrofit or replace lighting
fixtures with more energy-efficient bulbs in some 600
buildings in New Brunswick. When completed at a cost of
$19 million, the project will save the school between $4
million and $5 million in annual energy costs.
Electricity use will drop by more than 42 million
kilowatt hours per year.
Replacement of aging underground hot water pipes on
the Busch and Livingston campuses by 2010 for a fuel
savings of more than $2 million annually. The program
will cost $8 million.
Use of alternative fuels, including a diesel-biodiesel
blend for campus vehicles, which last year resulted in a
decrease of more than 100 tons of carbon dioxide.
A photovoltaic system, or solar farm, on the
Livingston campus. If approved by state regulators, it
would supply about 10 percent of campus energy needs. It
would cost $9 million -- $5 million from the state and
$4 million from Rutgers -- and produce annual savings of
$700,000.
With energy costs at the university skyrocketing 53
percent over the past four years, officials hope to save
another $1.5 million a year by using a new software program
at the campus cogeneration plant. The software will monitor
weather forecasts and energy demand in a bid to not overheat
or overcool buildings.
A newly created Energy Conservation Office and soon-to-be
hired energy conservation manager will oversee the new
projects and promote energy conservation. Gov. Jon S.
Corzine has ordered public institutions to cut greenhouse
gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
Rutgers is already a national leader in recycling
efforts, has long purchased recycled paper and other
products and involves researchers and students in local
community efforts to use sustainable energy.
Recently, the school's Energy Institute began
awarding four prizes annually of up to $2,500 to students
who develop the best plans to reduce or eliminate carbon
output on the New Brunswick campus by 2030.
Sarah Clader, a student who runs a campus chapter of an
environmental group, NJPIRG, has organized a number of
educational events on campus to promote energy savings. She
is part of the national "Campus Climate Challenge"
that presses administrators to enact 100% clean energy
policies at their schools.
"The idea is to position young people on college
campuses to set the bar for what the rest of the country
needs to be doing in terms of global warming," said
Clader, 21, of Cranford. "Global warming is the crisis
of our generation, so we need to lead the way in solving
it."
Rutgers isn't alone in its efforts. As of yesterday,
406 college presidents, six in New Jersey, have signed the
American College and University Presidents Climate
Commitment, promising to assess their greenhouse gas
emissions and create a plan to reduce them.
John Cusak, president of the New Jersey Higher Education
Partnership for Sustainability, said energy-saving efforts
have proved successful at other colleges. They include Rowan
University's use of wind-generated power and Montclair
State University's new eco-friendly academic center
that uses more than 40-percent less electricity than a
traditional building.
"Sometimes the biggest supporters of these
efforts," Cusak said, "are CFOs (Chief Financial
Officers) who say, 'let's be green in an
environmental sense and green in a financial sense."
