PRESS RELEASES

Contact: Ghita Levenstein Carroll 303-492-8308
Moe Tabrizi 303-492-1425
March 11, 2004

Over 13,000 campus community members pledge to reduce their energy usage

Pledge card campaign raises $65,000 from Vice Chancellor of Administration

For Immediate Release

BOULDER, March 11, 2004 — Exceeding all expectations, over one-third of the CU-Boulder campus community — more than 13,000 campus constituents — pledged to reduce their energy usage through the CU Environmental Center and Facilities Management’s energy pledge card campaign last semester. Vice Chancellor of Administration (VCA) Paul Tabolt committed $5 per signed pledge card, leading to a grand total of $65,000 raised for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects on campus.

For the first time in over a decade, campus energy use is decreasing in spite of campus growth. In an attempt to continue this trend, Tabolt pledged to donate $5 towards energy conservation and renewable energy projects for every legitimate card signed.

“Energy use in many campus buildings remains at a lower level, even months after the official end of the campaign,” said Tabolt. “We thank the numerous staff, faculty, and students from all over the campus that committed to help us reduce consumption.”

Working with CoPIRG, the student government, Housing, and Facilities Management, the CU Environmental Center engaged in a semester long campaign to collect pledge cards from students, faculty and staff members on the CU-Boulder campus in order to obtain the promised funds from the administration. The pledge was a commitment to reduce personal energy use by 10 percent. The cards listed some simple steps each member of the CU community can make to achieve this 10 percent, including changing the settings on computer monitors, turning off lights and electronics when not in use, and reporting energy or water waste to Facilities Management.

“The Environmental Center is excited that, through this campaign, we were able to not only push the campus community to pledge an energy usage reduction, but also raise funds for some very exciting new projects,” said Will Toor, director of the CU Environmental Center. “We are very grateful to the Vice Chancellor of Administration and the Energy Conservation Officer for this opportunity.”

This $65,000 from the VCA’s fund will be used to fund energy improvement projects on campus including the installation of occupancy sensors in generally-scheduled classrooms, the mitigation of steam trap leakage, and a contribution to the photovoltaic panel system demonstrating the use of renewable solar power for the University Memorial Center.

“This is a great example of the entire campus community standing behind a goal and showing excitement. I hope these implemented projects will be a constant reminder of this successful campaign,” said Moe Tabrizi, Campus Energy Conservation Officer.

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