NYU gets leadership award from EPA for greening
Rachel Smith
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: News
NYU was one of 17 recipients of the Environmental Protection Agency's annual Green Power Leadership award in Philadelphia last night.
The award recognizes organizations that voluntarily buy green power in an effort to promote renewable energy. Last year, NYU purchased more than 118 million kilowatt-hours of wind power, making it the largest academic purchaser of green power in the country.
This honor comes at a time when the university is making an effort to be more eco-friendly. Dining halls are going organic, compact-fluorescent bulbs are lighting dorms and recycling is highly encouraged.
NYU ranks at No. 18 on the EPA's list of Top 25 Green Power Partners, which includes eco-friendly organizations all across the nation.
Despite NYU's national eco-friendly reputation, students say they don't feel forced to participate in going green.
"The university encourages being environmentally conscious, but they don't pressure us," CAS freshman Josh Barone said.
But some students don't think NYU is doing enough.
"It's amazing that we've come this far, but this award should only accelerate our efforts to be as eco-friendly as possible," CAS freshman Matt Eldridge said.
"Just by the fact that the dining halls sometimes use disposable plates and cups shows that we still have some ground to cover," he added.
Chris Lotspeich, who has done extensive environmental work at the Rocky Mountain Institute and in freelance, said that companies who generate power using renewable sources, like solar and wind energy, are essentially "selling the greenness" to the purchaser.
"People can sell the renewable aspect to anyone, even if in reality, their energy is coming from a nuclear power plant in New Jersey," Lotspeich said.
Whether these green power purchases and related "carbon offset" purchases are actually environmentally helpful is up for debate, but Lotspeich thinks they are doing much more good than harm.
"The companies selling green power are enough above-board and transparent that you can find out where the power is from pretty easily," he said.
This award marks NYU's second recognition by the EPA. In April, NYU was an EPA Individual Conference Champion of 2006-2007.
Additional reporting by Sarah Malanga. Rachel Smith is a staff writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
The award recognizes organizations that voluntarily buy green power in an effort to promote renewable energy. Last year, NYU purchased more than 118 million kilowatt-hours of wind power, making it the largest academic purchaser of green power in the country.
This honor comes at a time when the university is making an effort to be more eco-friendly. Dining halls are going organic, compact-fluorescent bulbs are lighting dorms and recycling is highly encouraged.
NYU ranks at No. 18 on the EPA's list of Top 25 Green Power Partners, which includes eco-friendly organizations all across the nation.
Despite NYU's national eco-friendly reputation, students say they don't feel forced to participate in going green.
"The university encourages being environmentally conscious, but they don't pressure us," CAS freshman Josh Barone said.
But some students don't think NYU is doing enough.
"It's amazing that we've come this far, but this award should only accelerate our efforts to be as eco-friendly as possible," CAS freshman Matt Eldridge said.
"Just by the fact that the dining halls sometimes use disposable plates and cups shows that we still have some ground to cover," he added.
Chris Lotspeich, who has done extensive environmental work at the Rocky Mountain Institute and in freelance, said that companies who generate power using renewable sources, like solar and wind energy, are essentially "selling the greenness" to the purchaser.
"People can sell the renewable aspect to anyone, even if in reality, their energy is coming from a nuclear power plant in New Jersey," Lotspeich said.
Whether these green power purchases and related "carbon offset" purchases are actually environmentally helpful is up for debate, but Lotspeich thinks they are doing much more good than harm.
"The companies selling green power are enough above-board and transparent that you can find out where the power is from pretty easily," he said.
This award marks NYU's second recognition by the EPA. In April, NYU was an EPA Individual Conference Champion of 2006-2007.
Additional reporting by Sarah Malanga. Rachel Smith is a staff writer. E-mail her at news@nyunews.com.
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Katherine
posted 10/23/07 @ 11:44 AM EST
The Journalism Department's Scienceline recently published a story on green power by Josh Romero. Check out blowing in the Wind: http://scienceline.org/2007/08/17/env-romero-green-energy-markets/
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