Spring Break
SMU making environmental strides
Alexandra Vickers, Contributing Writer, avickers@smu.edu
Issue date: 11/30/06 Section: News
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Last fall, a few impassioned SMU students decided not only to alert members of the SMU community about the looming danger of global warming, but to rally them to take action.
The students organized a successful campaign that resulted in SMU becoming the first large university in Texas and the Southwest to join the EPA Green Power Partnership, a membership that requires at least 3 percent of the electricity SMU purchases to be "green" (i.e. comes from new renewable energy sources).
On Oct. 1, SMU purchased 2,100,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) of wind energy certificates to honor its annual commitment.
Joseph Grinnell, the student responsible for coordinating the Green Power Campaign, said, "The whole idea was to get the SMU campus to do something that would help reduce climate change and essentially start to address the concerns of global warming."
The EPA defines "green power" as electricity generated from "environmentally preferable" renewable energy sources - including solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydroelectricity. Grinnell says the ultimate objective is "to offset individual pollution that our own admissions create by buying green energy, which is 100 percent pollution free."
In essence, the overall environmental impacts associated with electricity generation will be significantly reduced as more green power sources begin to replace coal plants in order to meet the rising demand for the non-fossil fuel electricity generation.
These renewable sources of electricity are currently being developed in Texas at a record pace, creating thousands of jobs and revitalizing communities throughout the state while reducing the energy industry's pollution and intensive strain on precious water resources. According to the EPA, SMU's participation in the partnership will have an immediate environmental impact, reducing nearly 3 million pounds of global warming pollution from power plants.
This diminution is analogous to removing at least 253 cars from the road or planting over 390 acres of trees each year.
The students organized a successful campaign that resulted in SMU becoming the first large university in Texas and the Southwest to join the EPA Green Power Partnership, a membership that requires at least 3 percent of the electricity SMU purchases to be "green" (i.e. comes from new renewable energy sources).
On Oct. 1, SMU purchased 2,100,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) of wind energy certificates to honor its annual commitment.
Joseph Grinnell, the student responsible for coordinating the Green Power Campaign, said, "The whole idea was to get the SMU campus to do something that would help reduce climate change and essentially start to address the concerns of global warming."
The EPA defines "green power" as electricity generated from "environmentally preferable" renewable energy sources - including solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and low-impact hydroelectricity. Grinnell says the ultimate objective is "to offset individual pollution that our own admissions create by buying green energy, which is 100 percent pollution free."
In essence, the overall environmental impacts associated with electricity generation will be significantly reduced as more green power sources begin to replace coal plants in order to meet the rising demand for the non-fossil fuel electricity generation.
These renewable sources of electricity are currently being developed in Texas at a record pace, creating thousands of jobs and revitalizing communities throughout the state while reducing the energy industry's pollution and intensive strain on precious water resources. According to the EPA, SMU's participation in the partnership will have an immediate environmental impact, reducing nearly 3 million pounds of global warming pollution from power plants.
This diminution is analogous to removing at least 253 cars from the road or planting over 390 acres of trees each year.
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