With the help of the university, the Knoxville region is creating convenient energy solutions to what former U.S. Vice President Al Gore labeled “an inconvenient truth.” On Nov. 6th, the City of Knoxville announced it joined the Energy Star “Change a Light, Change the World” campaign, and Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville (SPEAK) eagerly hopped onboard.
“SPEAK is a pledge driver for the EPA Energy Star ‘Change a Light’ campaign, which means we have committed to getting 2,000 people to take the pledge to change at least one traditional, incandescent light bulb to a more energy-efficient, compact fluorescent,” SPEAK President Leslie Chinery said.
Since fluorescent light bulbs use about 66 to 75 percent less energy than traditional incandescents, the average bulb will save about $30 in its lifetime.
Chinery stated the commitment of 2,000 people to change merely one incandescent bulb to fluorescent will save UT 564,000 kilowatt hours of energy and 892,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the air—and about $56,400 in energy costs for the university.
But the “Change a Light” campaign isn’t the only initiative making UT green.
“We’re the largest Green Power purchaser in Tennessee and the fourth largest in the Southeast,” said Sarah Surak, public relations manager for Facilities Services.
Green Power is environmentally-friendly electricity derived from renewable energy sources.
Surak said UT’s investment in Green Power hasn’t gone unnoticed in comparison with other schools in the region.
“If you look at schools in the Southeast, we are definitely the head of the pack,” she said. “Well-funded, private schools are making huge strives in this area, but when you’re talking about … large public institutions, UT is at the top.”
The South has been notorious for its environmental tactlessness, but Surak said much of the problem has to do with space. She points to the fact that it costs more in the more urban areas of the North to throw out trash. Therefore, recycling and other environmentally-friendly practices are more readily implemented.
“If you look at Europe, they’re way ahead of us because so many people are in a small space and they’ve used up many of their resources,” Surak said. “They’ve been doing this for a long time because they have to do it. We’re going to have to do it eventually too, whether it’s recycling or power or whatnot.”
Facility Services started the trend by becoming an EPA Green Power Partner, which means at least 2 percent of UT’s energy is purchased as Green Power.
The funds to pay for UT’s Green Power came from a student-led initiative to create a student fee geared towards the purchase of Green Power. The $5 per student semester fee so far has had very positive effects for the implementation of Green Power as well as other environmentally-friendly amenities, such as automatic motion-sensor lighting, hybrid and electric vehicle purchases and water-less urinals.
The motion sensors will save even more money on the energy it takes to light the campus. The hybrid and electric fleet grows in number every year and Chinery said every water-less urinal saves about 40,000 gallons of water per year.
Terry Ledford, assistant director of Facility Services, stated UT will soon be receiving even more funding for the environmental campaign.
“Another fee has been established to help us called the Environmental Stewardship Fund,” Ledford said. “This allows faculty, staff, alumni and others to donate money towards environmentally-friendly practices. It will help us step out and perform energy-saving projects without having to wait on a renovation of a space.”
The fund is active, Surak said, and within the next two weeks, faculty and staff should receive notices of the fund.
“The students have stepped up and said ‘we’re going to support environmental initiatives by paying five dollars each semester,’ and I think it’s time for faculty and staff to step up too,” Surak said. “I’m already donating. I think it’s the best bang for your buck if you’re going to donate to the university, because many of the projects it funds will save money for the university.”
The fund will be available to faculty and staff in a variety of ways, from easy payroll deductions to one-time donations. And Surak added the investment of a donation to make UT greener affects the world at large.
“It’s really an investment in everybody’s future by being able to make UT more green—not just for the university but for the city and the state and the region because the environment doesn’t have boundaries,” Surak said. “Pollution doesn’t just stop where it starts.”
