In its efforts to urge the University to support renewable, or clean, energy, the Brown Environmental Action Network has decided to get creative.
Renewable energy sources include wind and solar power and are considered more sustainable and environmentally friendly than fossil fuels.
The group took advantage of Feb. 14 to create environmentally oriented valentines for to raise awareness of its campaign.
"We had some posters and Valentine's Day cards - we were just out there trying to raise awareness about Brown purchasing renewable energy," said Noah Fulmer '05, organizer of the event.
BEAN also collected dollar bills to be used for investment in renewable energy, according to BEAN member and Herald contributing writer Emily McAteer '07.
Valentine's Day cards addressed to President Ruth Simmons are still waiting to be delivered.
"Our next step would be to go to (President Simmons') office hours and bring the money we raised," McAteer said.
"Renewable energy has taken off at tons of colleges around the country," McAteer said, citing Harvard and Duke as examples. However, Brown currently purchases no clean energy, she added.
But clean energy is something the University has already been thinking about.
According to Resource Efficiency Manager Kurt Teichert, most schools that make the switch to clean energy do so simply by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates from clean energy sources.
"Because there is a market for certificates, you are encouraging renewable energy," Teichert said. In other words, when universities purchase RECs they are creating an incentive for an increase in the supply of clean energy.
But Teichert said "It's important that the campus community has a much deeper understanding of what it means when we say we want to buy green power."
RECs - often purchased from companies thousands of miles away, according to Teichert - have no effect on the local power grid from which Brown gets its energy. This grid is primarily the product of nuclear, coal and natural gas sources, Teichert said.
In addition, RECs would result in higher energy prices for the University because it would be paying for both the certificates and the energy it already gets from the power grid.
Teichert supports alternative solutions that would more directly affect the energy supplied to Brown and in the New England region. The University has been working on what Teichert called a "Contract for Differences," a contract with a local clean energy source that would provide for the construction of a new renewable energy plant. This would allow a higher percentage of the energy supplied to the region to come from clean sources.
RECs, however, are the primary concern for BEAN, according to McAteer.
Teichert agreed that such certificates are the most immediate step the University can take in supporting clean energy.
Both Fulmer and Teichert see the clean energy campaign as connected to a broad spectrum of environmental activities on campus. According to Fulmer, students are involved in many other campaigns that - although not specifically related to renewable energy - will nevertheless help the University reduce its fossil fuel consumption.
Initiatives that seek to reduce the demand for electricity have been the University's primary energy concern, Teichert said. However, interest on the part of students has forced the University to pay more attention to initiatives, such as RECs, that emphasize the supply side of energy efficiency, he added.
Fulmer believes that the University can solve the problem of clean energy's increased costs by implementing a small fee of a few dollars per student. If such a proposal went into effect, it would include an option allowing students to opt out of paying the fee, Fulmer said.
Fulmer was optimistic about the University's potential for making the switch to clean energy, citing the ease of such a switch and the broad student and faculty support it has received. However, he said the process will take some time. "One hundred percent is not going to happen right away," he said.
