North Hall, at Williams Village, will be the largest LEED platinum certified residence hall in the country when it opens in the fall. (CU Independent/Jonathan Zwick)
CU-Boulder holds the honor of being the first university in the country to achieve “gold” status for environmental leadership from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Ratings System.
There are two specific funds at CU that have helped to achieve this status. The CU Energy and Climate Revolving Fund and the Energy Efficiency Fund, both run by the CU Environmental Board. Both use loans from individuals and organizations to keep the university green.
The CU Energy and Climate Revolving Fund began in 2007 with a $500,000 endowment from the student government. Its goal is to fund, through low interest loans, campus-wide initiatives aimed at reducing energy use.
Efforts of the Energy and Climate Revolving Fund have achieved yearly reductions of over 250 tons of carbon emissions and an average return on its investments of 37.8 percent.
A student member of the Environmental Board, Natasha Goss, a 14-year-old sophomore chemistry major, said grants are key to campus sustainability.
“Grants are evaluated for how innovative they are, how they do help move the campus toward sustainability and how they involve the student body in sustainability,” Goss said.
The most recently approved grants include the proposal to design and build CU’s first “green roof.”
The Energy Efficiency Fund was created in the spring of 2004. Since 2005 it has funded energy efficient and sustainable renovations in Wardenburg Health Center, the Recreation Center and the University Memorial Center.
Co-chair of the CU Environmental Board, Dan Omasta, a 22-year-old senior environmental studies major, said the fund is important to CU’s efforts at energy sustainability, but it faces a questionable future.
“That fund is actually being proposed for a cut by the student government during the budget cycle,” Omasta said. “It’s interesting because this fund and this money is an investment in the long term sustainability, both financial and environmentally, [for] the student body.”
If the CU student government votes to cut funding to the Energy Efficiency Fund it will have long-term negative implications, Omasta said.
“Cuts in the short term are going to harm the amount of money students save in the future years,” Omasta said.
Jessica Hults, a 24-year-old senior psychology major, said she supports campus efforts at creating a green environment and considers them when it is time for elections.
“Candidates I choose to vote for, [think] environmental issues are important,” Hults said.
Other efforts toward a greener campus future are being undertaken beyond the scope of the CU Environmental Center. Perhaps most notable is the university’s new construction efforts. A new dormitory at Williams Village, North Hall, is slated to open in the fall.
Megan Rose, communication specialist for Planning, Design and Construction, said that the new dorm will be on the cutting edge of green technology.
“It will be the first LEED platinum certified building on campus and the largest LEED platinum residence hall in the nation,” Rose said.
The new dormitory will also be the home to two residential academic programs focused on sustainability. The administration wants to make the new residential hall more attractive to upperclassmen in order to mix freshmen with more experienced students.
“They can take mutual classes together and learn from each other,” Rose said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Thomas Cuffe at Thomas.cuffe@colorado.edu.
