By EMMA VICTORELLI
Contributing Writer
[email protected]
The award recognizes the country’s leading renewable energy users and was given to Allegheny for purchasing nearly 15 million kilowatt-hours of green power. This amount is enough to meet 100 percent of the college’s electricity use.
The college decided to increase the purchase of energy credits in January 2011, said Sustainability Coordinator Kelly Boulton.
“Previously, the school bought enough green energy to fulfill 15 percent of our total use,” said Boulton. “But in the end, we decided to go with 100 percent because it fit into the budget and we felt that it was the right thing to do.”
Boulton said although the college is proud to accept the honor, the purchase of green power credits was not part of an agenda for the college’s publicity.
“We didn’t even know that the award existed until we were approached by people who wanted to nominate us,” Boulton said..
Some students said they were unaware of the amount of renewable energy purchased by the college until they saw the announcement of the EPA award on the college website.
“I didn’t know we were using 100 percent green energy until I saw that little blurb,” said president of Students for Environmental Action, Maranda Nemeth, ’12.
President of Advocating Global Health and Development, Ben Dempe, ’12, said he was “shocked” by the amount of energy credits bought by Allegheny.
“I did know that we had a movement toward green energy, but I didn’t know that we used such a large percentage of it,” said Dempe.
Nemeth attributed the lack of student awareness to limited advertising on campus.
“The Green Gator website shows a lot of information about Allegheny’s energy use, but I don’t think it’s something that is advertised within the community as well,” Nemeth said.
Boulton said that publicity of the college’s green initiatives has been a persistent struggle during her time at Allegheny.
“It’s tricky because we’ve done publicity about our work,” said Boulton. “I’m not sure what the key is; how to publicize so the majority of the community knows what’s going on.”
Gabriella Tetelman, ’12, who has been an intern for the EPA for the last three years, said that the award would give Allegheny greater respect for the its environmental initiatives.
“I think people are aware of the college’s environmental focus,” said Tetelman. “But the fact that this is coming from a federal governmental agency makes all of our actions more legitimate.”
Director of Sustainability and Environmental Services Ian Colley, ’13, hopes the award will help further student awareness about the steps the college is taking toward environmental change.
“Although we have a lot to improve upon, I think the award shows that we’ve made a lot of changes to our environmental practices,” said Colley. “I think this is something that Allegheny is going to be more vocal about in the future.”
Boulton said that this new distinction should sustain Allegheny’s advocacy of environmental stewardship.
“Students are only here for four years, and I know that students wonder what is going to happen after they graduate,” said Boulton. “But I hope that our actions show that there is institutionalized commitment at Allegheny.”
