The $5 green fee that ETSU students voted on in the spring and paid this fall is in the students’ proverbial hands.
The Campus Sustainability Committee is now calling on students, faculty, staff, university offices and student organizations to submit proposals for sustainability, energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that they would like to see funded with the green fee.
A proposal form was sent to every e-mail address on campus under the subject heading “FW: Sustainability Project Requests.” The “Application for Campus Sustainability funds” consists of five categories to be filled out by those interested: a detailed project description; estimated budget; timeline; energy, environmental, social, and economic impact; outreach and education.
The current deadline to have these applications turned in is Dec. 1. Then the committee will review the project proposals to determine what to undertake. A second round of applications will be solicited next semester with a March 1, 2009, deadline.
The Campus Sustainability Committee was formed to allocate the collected green fee – which took in $65,000 roughly this semester, therefore the group was budgeted for $130,000 for the 2008-09 school year.
The group is made up of four voting students, three voting faculty and two non-voting staff, which includes chair Kathleen Moore, who is director of maintenance of grounds, and facilities staff Todd Elrod, who will oversee the feasibility and manageability of the projects.
The four student members are Gavin Andrews, Ash-Lee Henderson, Patrick Lewis, and Travis Lockner. The three faculty members are Aimee Govett, a professor of curriculum and instruction; Micky Morton, an instructor in the Little Bucs Childcare Center; and Victoria Ramsauer, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the College of Pharmacy.
The committee’s guidelines say the student self-imposed fee must fund ecologically sustainable projects that will “maximize the quantifiable impact of each student dollar, will be visible to or impact a great number of students, and will help establish the university as a leader in sustainable practices.”
The guidelines given by the Tennessee Board of Regents calls for a primary focus on energy efficiency and utility conservation, along with local generation of renewable energy, alternative fuel sources and other environmental areas such as recycling, green building and waste reduction.
Proposals should adhere to these guidelines, Moore and committee members emphasized at their first meeting Oct. 9. Those who need to clarify the guidelines can find a detailed listing in the campus-wide e-mail that was sent out on Monday, Oct. 27.
Some suggestions for projects that have already come forward are a campus composting program, renovation of existing structure to green structures and campus community gardens.
A few rules and restrictions for the proposals are that the proposals must be implemented on the ETSU campus and demonstrate a specific energy or environmental benefit.
The proposals also must be technically and economically feasible, as well as cost-effective to operate and maintain.
All proposals must be submitted in either a Word or PDF format, and submitted to the Committee Chair Kathleen Moore at moore@etsu.edu.

Author