The University has reached a halfway point in its efforts to cut campus emissions of greenhouse gases, according to Director of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Initiatives Chris Powell. The goal is to reduce emissions to 42 percent below 2007 levels by 2020.
Emissions are now 21 percent below 2007 levels — an improvement of 3 percent from last fall — a drop that is largely the result of Facilties Management's decision to use alternate fuels in campus buildings, Powell said.
"We wanted to make some quick reductions by switching fuel sources, but future projects will require more funds and planning," Powell said.
Facilities plans to expand its efforts using a $20 million loan, Powell said. Thus far, most cuts have been made using funds already appropriated to Facilities.
"We spent a few million dollars the first several years, but that paid for itself in savings," Powell said.
Upon making many immediate changes to reduce emissions, the emphasis within Facilities moved toward working on more complex and oftentimes more expensive projects on campus, many of which are the result of collaboration between students and faculty.
"Facilities is working on a number of large-scale projects, including new lighting fixtures and boiler replacements," said Ben Howard '11, an intern working with Facilities on sustainability projects. "My role is to act as a conduit between student projects and the funding available to the University."
Energy and Environmental Programs Coordinator Ginger Gritzo reiterated the role students now play in making sustainability projects a reality on campus.
"I think that the coordination between Facilities and students has gotten a lot better," Gritzo said. "Before I was in this role, there wasn't coordination between what Facilities wanted to do and what students wanted to do."
Powell stated that there are many projects currently being considered to continue the University's efforts to cut emissions, and he thinks the goals for 2020 are within reach.
"I think we can at least see projects that would get us there, and we just need to get them approved and implemented," Powell said.
He also emphasized that sustainability projects are in the process of expanding, and that the University will see cost savings in the future.
"Now we're spending faster than the savings are coming in because we're doing more capital-intensive projects," Powell said. "But we project that by the end of fiscal year 2011, our annual savings as a result of these projects will be around $1.5 million."
Howard also said he had high hopes for the University's ability to meet its 2020 goals.
"I think it's amazing that we have access to so much funding," Howard said. "It's just a matter of getting Brown's brainpower behind projects."
Later this month, Facilities will be submitting its 2010 Sustainability Report, which will contain further details regarding campus environmental progress.
