Renewable Energy 101

Ten Tools for Moving Your Campus to 100% Clean Energy

Fort Collins, Colorado — Today, Environment Colorado, touting the leadership role that colleges and universities must play in the clean energy revolution, unveiled a 10 point plan to guide Colorado colleges and universities toward 100 percent renewable energy. Renewable Energy 101: Ten Tools for Moving your Campus to 100% Clean Energy includes a series of factsheets highlighting 10 key tools to help build a 100 percent clean, renewable energy system.

“Colleges and universities across the country are situated to lead the charge in the transition to a 100 percent clean energy future,” said Garrett Garner-Wells, director of Environment Colorado. “We applaud the bold steps Colorado State University has already taken toward a renewable energy future, especially their commitment to power the university with 100 percent clean energy by 2030. The ten point plan laid out in these fact sheets will provide students, faculty, and administrators with additional tools to reduce carbon pollution on and off campus.”

According to a recent report by Environment America, colleges and universities serve more than 20 million students and spend more than $15 billion per year on energy, so bold commitments to clean energy can drive big investments in solutions. At the same time, as influential institutions, actions taken by higher education institutions can set an example in hundreds of communities across America; while training the scientists, engineers, policymakers and civic leaders we need to move the nation toward sustainability.

“To remain a global economic leader, we must invest in renewable energy technology and fully embrace a cleaner, carbon-free future,” said Congressman Jared Polis. “As the author of federal legislation to move the nation toward 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, I know that achieving 100 percent renewable energy is not only a feasible goal, but also a necessary goal. We need everyone on board to get it done, and so I applaud Colorado State University and its students’ actions and am proud that they are helping to take the lead. By working together to combat climate change through renewable energy, we will be protecting our health, our national security, our jobs and our planet for the future.”

Clean energy and energy efficient technologies are growing fast and getting cheaper, making them more accessible. In the past 10 years, the United States has seen a 43-fold increase in solar power and a seven-fold increase in wind power, while the average American now uses 10 percent less energy.

“As a climate scientist and professor of atmospheric science, I can tell you that the science is simple: our climate is changing. We’re up against a serious problem” said Scott Denning, Montford Professor of Atmospheric Science, Director of Education, ESMEI at Colorado State University. “Thankfully, this crisis is also solvable. By focusing on these three ideas–simple, serious, and solvable–and setting ambitious clean energy goals, Colorado’s colleges and universities can bolster learning and research, drive innovation, attract new students, and save money. And we can do all of this while setting an example for the nation and reducing their own environmental impact.”

“Colorado’s institutions of higher education can and should be at the forefront of the nation’s rapid shift to clean, renewable energy,” said Garner-Wells. “That’s why we’re excited to be working with the campus communities around the state to build support for a big shift to clean energy and setting a goal of meeting all of their energy needs with clean, renewable resources.”

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Environment Colorado is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organizations working for a cleaner, greener, healthier future.