TN Student Green Power Purchases Approved! « It’s Getting Hot In Here

The Tennessee Board of Regents, the governing body for the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, unanimously approved student clean energy fees for Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and Tennessee Technological University (TTU)–although just last week the Chancellor had proposed dropping the green power purchase–thanks to everyone who called in, you made a difference! This purchase of 10,000 MWh/year will be the 16th largest university green power purchase in the United States and the second largest in the Southeast (only Duke’s purchase of 54,000 MWh/year is greater)!

Both schools’ fees will support on-campus energy efficiency and local renewable energy generation through TVA’s Green Power Switch program. The fees were initiated by students at both schools who saw the legacy of destruction that our current dirty energy sources are leaving for their generation and took action to bring cleaner, more efficient energy use to their campuses. In October 2005, students demonstrated overwhelming support for these fees with over 88% approval of voting students in the largest voter turnouts ever recorded at both schools! These students are now working with students at other TN schools to pass similar iniatives at their schools, and it looks like the entire Tennessee Board of Regents university system could pass a green power purchasing and energy efficiency policy in the next year or so.

About Liz

While at the University of North Carolina, Liz led one of the first successful campus renewable energy campaigns in the southeast and won the Morris K. Udall scholarship in both 2002 & 2003. She organized the first Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference April 2-4, 2004, to engage other Southern schools beyond UNC in energy and climate work. In the summer of 2004 she became a co-founding member of Energy Action Coalition, which she has been actively involved with since then. She co-chaired the Energy Action Coalition Steering Committee for 2 years and is Executive Director of the Southern Energy Network, which works with students in the Southeast on clean energy and climate initiatives as part of Energy Action Coalition's Campus Climate Challenge. In late fall 2005, she attended the UN Climate Negotiations in Montreal and helped start www.itsgettinghotinhere.org . In 2008, she joined the board of the Highlander Research and Education Center (www.highlandercenter.org).