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Organizations back sustainability plan

Student Council, Faculty Senate endorse initiative to reduce gas emissions

Both Student Council and the Faculty Senate endorsed the Presidential Committee on Sustainability's Carbon Reduction Plan last week, which aims to reduce the University's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2025. The plan will be presented to the Board of Visitors in June for a final verdict.

The formation of the Carbon Reduction Plan began in August 2008, after the Presidential Committee on Sustainability formed to study how to reduce the University's greenhouse gas emissions, said Andrew Greene, the sustainability planner in the Office of the Architect. The committee observed several peer institutions, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, design similar programs.

The University, however, took a different path from other institutions, which devised reduction goals prior to determining their feasibility.

"What we found is that University leadership really wanted to know what our options were ... before committing to a reduction target," Greene said. "It took a little while to come to this because we had to look at what's possible."

A 25 percent reduction would cut 250,000 metric tons during the next 14 years and roughly one-third of the metric tons estimated to be emitted in 2025.

Greene said the process would involve three main areas: the growth of the student population and efficient use of space, efficient energy use and the development of renewable energy.

One of the subsections in the proposed bill presented to Council included the provision for educating faculty, staff and the student body about how to reduce their individual carbon footprints.

"There's very much a focus on the educational aspect and engaging students in sustainability," said third-year College student Sheffield Hale, the undergraduate representative on the President's Committee on Sustainability. "A large part of the purpose of the University is to educate its students in issues such as sustainability."

This educational promotion accompanies current initiatives implemented by the committee, including the ongoing Sustainability Pledge, and encouraging students and faculty to print fewer papers. The Board either will approve or reject this proposal at its June meeting, but Greene said the committee will continue to encourage a decrease in carbon emissions.

"The committee's put a lot of effort and a lot of thought into [the Carbon Reduction Plan]," Greene said. "We've been working toward reducing our energy consumption for some time now"

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