Listen to the commentary
Real Audio | MP3 download
If you’ve been keeping up with recent news from the U of I,
you already know that one of the most interesting developments on campus is the
solar array now being installed on the South Farms. On the chance you’ve been distracted by
other news, here’s the short version. The project is being implemented by a
company called Phoenix Solar and made possible, in part, by a significant financial contribution from the
Student Sustainability Committee. When complete, the solar farm will
cover 21 acres and produce approximately two
percent of the electricity we currently use in a year.
The solar farm might be of limited interest were it a
stand-alone project. But it’s not. It’s one project among many that, together,
are intended to make the campus carbon-neutral by the year 2050. That’s a goal
we formally adopted when we signed on to the American College and University
Presidents’ Climate Commitment in 2008.
To date, our progress toward carbon-neutrality has been
guided by the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), which was adopted in 2010. An
updated version of that plan was created over the past year thanks to hard work
and expertise from staff, students and faculty from across campus under the
leadership of professor Ben McCall, in his role as Associate Director for Campus Sustainability at the Institute for
Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, and Morgan Johnston, who is Director
of Sustainability with U of I Facilities and Services.
I checked in recently with Johnston to get a sense of where
the solar farm fits into the larger picture, and what’s new in the climate
action plan. She emphasized that our greatest strides toward carbon neutrality have
been made possible by reducing our demand for energy through conservation.
Tune-ups that ensure heating, cooling and ventilation
systems are operating efficiently provide a good example. Teams from the Campus
Retrocommissioning Group at Facilities and Services, which perform these
tune-ups, have reduced energy use by an average of 27 percent in the more than
60 buildings where they have worked since 2007.
How should we characterize our progress? One way Ben McCall
suggested approaching this question was to look at how much we’ve reduced our net
carbon emissions; he estimated that to be 15 percent between fiscal years 2008
and 2014.
Johnston added there are other ways of characterizing
progress, as well. She cited strong support among current leaders for efforts
to make campus more sustainable, and she noted some of the key roles students
play in these efforts, from their volunteer work at events that promote cycling
to their service on decision-making committees. Perhaps what’s most important
of all, she said, is that students are participating in classes where learning
and doing take place at the same time, like the senior design lab that
developed the plan for a rooftop solar installation at the Abbott power plant.
That’s because in the grand scheme of things a
university—even a big one like the U of I—won’t change the world all that much by achieving
carbon neutrality, since as a sector higher education emits only a small share
of the world’s carbon pollution. It can achieve much more by sending into the
world young leaders who understand the challenges of the twenty-first century and
who have begun to develop the tools we need to cope with them.
If you’re interested to know more about confronting climate
change, check out an upcoming public seminar on the topic sponsored by the First
Presbyterian Church of Urbana The series will take place on six successive
Sundays beginning October 4. Details available on the web through First
Presbyterian Church of Urbana.
