President Barry Mills gave some students additional homework this week.
After meeting with members of Clean Energy Now (CEN), Mills and Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Katy Longley have asked the group to provide the administration with additional details about options for purchasing 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
Almost a dozen members of CEN met with Mills and Longley last Friday, urging the College to adopt a policy for the purchase of clean-energy electricity. In addition, the group presented Mills with a petition signed by more than 700 students and faculty, who supported the initiative to buy electricity from renewable sources. Although both sides felt that the meeting was productive, administrators have not yet made a decision.
"It was, I thought, an excellent meeting. They were passionate, thoughtful, engaged, and serious," Mills told the Orient on Wednesday.
"I asked a lot questions. They're going off to do some more investigation based on my questions. We're going off and doing some investigating based on some of the issues we talked about," Mills said.
At Monday's faculty meeting, Mills expressed concern about the students' analysis of the complex issue.
After noting that he was impressed with the group's efforts, Mills said, "I'm equally concerned about their inability to delve down beneath the veneer of the issue."
"Caring isn't enough," he added, stressing the importance of gathering more information.
Mills asked students to do more research on the energy contracts of Colby College, Bates College, and College of the Atlantic?who have already committed to purchasing 100 percent of their electricity from clean sources of energy?so that they could more fully understand the economic parameters of their proposal.
Although Mills did not commit to purchasing 100 percent clean-energy electricity, Larissa Curlik '07, a member of CEN, believes that the meeting was an important first step in starting a dialogue between the administration and students.
"President Mills addressed an important point," she said. "Until now, the student body has not expressed its interest in such issues such as clean energy to the administration. Meeting with President Mills and presenting our petition was an important first step in filling the gap."
According to CEN member Katherine Kirklin '07, while Mills and Longley were receptive to the group's concerns, the costs of purchasing this type of electricity remain the primary obstacle. For Kirklin and fellow group member Ben Smith '06, the dangers posed by the use of fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases, should not be subordinated to the College's economic interests.
"We need to keep the focus on the larger issues that transcend simple economics," Kirklin said.
Smith shares Kirklin's concern, believing that the group's commitment to purchasing 100 percent clean-energy electricity is in line with Bowdoin's commitment to the common good.
"I felt that our point that making this decision now is critical in mitigating climate change was glossed over and that other concerns?mainly economic?took precedence over the common good," he said.
According to Mills, the College had already begun to investigate the possibility of purchasing of 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources before receiving the group's petition.
"Honestly, we were already on the issues that they raised," he said. "It is a vital issue to all of us because the issue of our environment is vitally important."
Asked about the likelihood of the College purchasing 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, Mills reiterated his commitment to continue discussing the College's options.
"We are 100 percent committed to considering what our options are," Mills said. "Our goal, obviously, is to be responsible from a financial and environmental point of view. I expect that those goals could be consistent."
While many other institutions have made commitments to purchase clean-energy electricity, Mills is not concerned that Bowdoin will fall behind with respect to sustainability.
"I worry about Bowdoin," Mills said. "I don't worry about other schools. Other schools do what's right for them. We need to do what's right for Bowdoin. I really believe that we need to be educated."
Mills pointed to the recent construction of East and West halls, both LEED certified buildings, as examples of Bowdoin's commitment to environmental friendliness.
"I suspect you're not going to find a lot of colleges out there that have spent the kind of money we have in order to create buildings that are LEED certified [or] to create geothermal heating and cooling," he said.
These accomplishments, Mills argued, may actually make the College a leader in sustainability.
"So if you look at what the College is doing in the broader arena of being environmentally sensitive, you find us, in many respects, far ahead of what other places may be doing," he said.
In a statement to the Orient, Longely said that energy conservation efforts helped the College's energy efficiency this year.
"I'm grateful to the whole campus community for helping us turn down the heat this past winter," she said.
The College will raise temperature setting in air conditioned buildings from usual 72 degrees to 75 degrees this summer.
According to Longely, the College is locked into its current energy contract until December 2006. Currently, 30 percent of its contract consists of clean energy. This value will increase to 48 percent in September.
According to Longley, the College is trying to find long-term opportunities for its electricity load in order to foster the development of renewable resources in Maine. Longley said that a long-term contract cannot be negotiated immediately because the current fiscal year does not end until June 30, and utility expenditures for the entire fiscal year will need to be calculated for negotiations.
"We will continue to explore 'green purchasing' in the context of our overall utility budget and remain vigilant in looking for opportunities," she said.
"The trick is balancing these opportunities with the realities of the budget and a very volatile energy market," Longley said. "It's a complex area and hopefully we can get it right."
As for CEN, the group is currently focused on finding the additional information requested by Mills before meeting with him again to discuss the College's options in more detail.
"As for right now, it would be great if we could meet with President Mills again this Friday," Curlik said.
"However, we want to make sure we are prepared and have our homework done before we talk with him again. So if we are not able to get the information he requested and feel inadequately prepared, we will wait to talk to him," she said.
Evan S. Kohn contributed to this report.