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Why is the Student Energy Waste Watch Challenge Important?

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There are a variety of reasons why the UNH Student Energy Waste Watch Challenge is an important addition to the University of New Hampshire's commitment tconserving energy, lowering energy costs, and reducing emimssions of greenhouse gases and other critereia air pollutants!

A few of the University's faculty were kind enough to share their thoughts on the issue, and they demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of this effort's value to society.

 

 

John E. Carroll, Professor in the UNH Department of Natural Resources

For the past 26 years, since the film's production in 1980, I have been showing to my students in various classes in Ecological Ethics and Values and Applied American Environmental Philosophy the film "Energy and Morality." Some are surprised at the title and wonder why the two would be linked. But they are and cannot be de-linked or separated. Every energy decision, including food decisions and consumption decisions, that we make every day has not only energy, ecological, economic, and geopolitical consequences but also moral consequences. These consequences are felt on the vulnerable and marginalized in our society and around the world; on future generations of humanity yet unborn; and on nature, the natural ecosystem of which we are a part and on which we are fully dependent. Any discussion about the appropriateness of future energy technologies is incomplete without an understanding of the complex relationship of energy to the emotional and ethical basis of human culture. This year's UNH University Dialogue on Energy, "Power to the People," has recognized that by organizing, as one of its events this year, a dialogue with the UNH university chaplains entitled "Energy for Change: Spiritual and Social Transformation."

Further information can be obtained from Peak Oil, Geopolitics and the Need for Relocalization (PDF)

Ross Gittell, James R. Carter Professor and Professor of Management at the UNH Whittemore School of Business & Economics

Businesses can benefit from energy and water conservation. It can help businesses reduce costs and also help to enhance their reputation and image with customers, employers and shareholders. Conservation can benefit businesses of all sizes and in all industries. Businesses can take small and/or large steps to reduce their energy and water use, which directly reduces their costs and increase their profits. Conservation efforts that reduce costs can also contribute to the public image of companies and help to build customer and employee loyalty. In addition, these efforts can help project a positive image among investors. In the long run conservation efforts that reduce company costs can help to alleviate the need and cost of future government regulations and rules that could come with significant costs and consequences for businesses. The bottom line is that energy and water conservation can be, and often is, beneficial to business.

Further information can be obtained from:

Tom Kelly, Director of the UNH Office of Sustainability

As a Climate Protection Campus, UNH is committed to being a model sustainable community in the state and region.  UNH is meeting this commitment through its University-wide Climate Education Initiative (CEI). CEI’s mission is to integrate the ethics, science, technology, and policies of greenhouse gas reductions into UNH’s identity and practices.  CEI is actively engaging the community in climate change education and emissions reduction efforts across campus and beyond.  For example, through the UNH Energy Task Force, established in 2005, emissions reductions are complemented by related research, curricula, and broad-based engagement and outreach programs that educate students, faculty, administrators, staff, and the larger community about the relationships among energy choices, climate, and economic and social well-being.

The Student Energy Waste Watch Challenge is an important facet of CEI. The details of global climate change can seem overwhelming and removed from our daily lives. What can one person possibly do to have an effect on forces shaping the entire climate system? By participating in the Challenge, students will gain knowledge and experience practicing the types of individual and collective behaviors that can help our society reduce our dependance on fossil fuels, limit our greenhouse gas emissions, and live in a more sustainable way. The Challenge provides an exciting opportunity to see the direct results of these actions. The monitoring of energy and water usage in the buildings will provide us with concrete information about how our simple daily activities impact our ecological footprint. For example, the Office of Sustainability has coordinated similar smaller-scale projects in the past, such as the “powerdown” educational campaign over Thanksgiving and winter breaks in 2005 that resulted in over 147,000 kWh and $20,000 in energy costs saved and greenhouse gas emissions prevented equivalent to removing 30 cars from the road for one year. By expanding these type of activities into all of the residences halls on campus, we expect to see even greater energy savings and emissions offsets, showing that simple personal efficiency and conservation efforts can have a large impact on overall energy consumption.

The evidence is clear: the ecological, human health, and economic impacts of climate change are significantly affecting our state, region, and entire planet. We can – and must – act now to address the causes and impacts of climate change. Beacuse we are part of the problem, we can be part of the solution. As human activities are the primary source of climate-altering emissions, we can change specific policies and behaviors to reduce these emissions and thus lessen our vulnerability to the climatic changes that are taking place now and into the foreseeable future. How we adapt to the changes that have already been set in motion – while playing our part to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions – will impact the quality of life in our state and region for generations to come.

Further information can be obtained from:

Cameron Wake, Research Assistant Professor at the UNH Climate Change Research Center

Climate is changing throughout New England - with serious consequences. Today, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are at their highest recorded levels in more than 400,000 years. According to the report Indicators of Climate Change in the Northeast 2005, the average annual temperature in the northeastern United States has increased by approximately 1.8° Fahrenheit (F) since 1899. In the last 30 years alone, the annual average temperature in the northeast has risen 1.4 F. The greatest warming has occurred during the winter season, with an average annual December to February temperature increase of 4.4 F from 1970 to 2000.

It should be of no surprise, then, that New Hampshire and New England are being affected by the resulting changes to the climate system. Since our climate has continued to change over the course of Earth’s history, why should we be concerned now? Over the past century, human activities, primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels, have significantly increased the amount of heat trapping gases in the atmosphere, resulting in CO2 concentration levels that are nearly as high as were seen when dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous period. This accumulation of gases enhances the Earth's natural greenhouse effect and have led to changes in the Earth’s energy balance and therefore to its climate. Evidence of climate change impacts surround us in the form of subtle but clear signals in our landscape:

Excerpted from the 2004-2005 UNH Greenhouse Gas Emissions Update

Further information can be obtained from:

 

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