The San Diego Community College district in California, hoping to increase the percentage of its energy portfolio that comes from clean sources, is using a method called a power purchase agreement, in which a third-party company will install solar panels on ground owned by the district, sell the power to the college at a reduced rate, and sell any extra electricity to a local utility.

The Community College Times reports: "The idea for the power purchase agreement (PPA) originated from the
district’s policy requiring that 10 percent to 20 percent of power for
new buildings come from renewable sources, said David Umstot, the
district’s vice chancellor of facilities. College officials mulled over
whether to build a solar system to meet the requirement with its own
funds, through bonds or through a PPA."

One of the biggest benefits to a PPA is the low upfront cost. SDCCD only had to pay for landscaping and roof repairs in preparation for the solar panels, and permitting, designs, installation and maintenance are being handled by the contractor. So, the college reaps the benefits of cleaner, cheaper energy, but without the hefty initial bill. Plus, if the college comes up with the money later, it has the option to buy the panels and own them outright.

Atlantic Cape Community College has a similar deal in place: Pepco will install enough solar panels on the campus to provide half of the electricity the school needs. The same CCT article reports that "The agreement will save the college about $220,000 in its first year
and up to $6.8 million over the 20-year life of the contract."

But not all schools have successfully outsourced this kind of work. A story in the Chronicle of Higher Education notes increasing numbers of colleges are turning to energy-services
companies (ESCO's) for large-scale energy installations and retrofits, but as they become more popular, colleges may be more likely to end up "stuck with
deals that overpromise and underdeliver." 

The lede story is a case study in best intentions gone awry. A deal between the University of Kansas and Chevron was supposed to save the university about a million dollars in wasted energy by replacing windows, sealing ventilation, installing more-efficient lights and using other proven techniques. However, the savings that were supposed to pay off KU's initial bond didn't materialize, to the tune of about $500,000 annually. After years of haggling over the missing money, Carlson reports, "Finally, this year, the university and Chevron hammered out an
agreement: The company will pay the university $400,000 a year for the
next 12 years, no questions asked."

The key to successful contracts of this nature seem to be a mix of reasonable expectations and careful selection of the kinds of projects that will have the most long-term benefit. For example, expecting all initial costs to be paid back within a decade means the ESCO can only work on short-term projects, such as lighting retrofits, rather than anything so ambitious as clean energy or complete building overhauls, which usually have greater benefit in the long haul.

Also problematic? Relying too much on individuals to conserve energy. The article notes: "Lack of experience may have been the primary problem in the University
of Kansas' case. Mr. Steeples, the senior vice provost, says the
company officials who devised the university's contract did not
understand campus culture. 'They overestimated what they could do to
train people to turn lights off when they leave the room, or close the
sash on the fume hoods,' he says." (We have written about individual conservation in the past, with a similar hypothesis. Read the full story here.) 

As more schools sign the President's Climate Commitment and move towards climate neutrality, it will become even more imperative that they tread carefully. Between budget crunches and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions–and fast!–schools considering these kinds of contracts would do well to look over guides, like those from ACUPCC and NACUBO, which warn against pitfalls and help staffers navigate the process.

Lesser notes that, "While many dotcom companies were started by students out of their dorm
rooms or basements, don’t look for a similar trend in the cleantech
world. You need a lot more than a desktop and a good Internet-based
idea. You need specialized resources that you usually can find at a
university."

Among the top ten schools are several that Campus Ecology has highlighted in the past, including Washington State, CU-Boulder, and the University of Wisconsin. 

"Beginning June 7, the school will be open from 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday. The move will allow university officials to shut down air conditioning units in most school buildings between Thursday nights and Monday mornings, which will reduce the university’s utility bills."

The school hopes to save more than $4,600 per day in energy costs, even as employees continue to put in regular 40-hour weeks, and it's one of many colleges cutting costs and carbon emissions by consolidating schedules.

For example, during the past two summers, California State Polytechnic University (CPP) in Pomona, CA, has switched to a 4 day/10-hour work schedule, similar to UM. Dr. Kyle Brown, director of the Center for Regenerative Studies, notes, "in 2008 we had 9 days of closure from this program and estimated that we reduced emissions by approximately 240 metric tons of ECO₂, or 0.4% of all annual emissions."

Not only are there savings on the part of the university, but recession-slammed employees can also benefit. Brown adds that, "given the high price of gasoline in the summer of 2008, we estimated the total savings to CPP staff from this program to be approximately $40,000." (Of course, this assumes that staff didn't use their newfound day to get in a little extra shopping.)

"When leaders at the KU Energy Council and Center for Sustainability
looked for recommendations to unify green efforts at KU, they didn’t
seek expertise outside of Lawrence. They didn’t even have to leave campus. Instead, they turned to Bob Basow’s Strategic Campaigns class in KU’s journalism school."

Basow’s campaigns class asks students to dedicate their entire semester to creating a real-world campaign, often for a client. In this case, the client is the university, which got a three-year sustainability plan out of the deal.

This particular group traveled to Kansas State University, the University of Colorado-Boulder, the
Colorado School of Mines, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
and Duke University, all sustainability leaders, and formulated a strategy for the university that depends upon increasing student fees by a few dollars (KU students now pay 50 cents a semester for sustainability), increasing messaging around recycling and waste handling, and saving energy.

As budgets tighten, more universities than KU are asking students to step up and help formulate and implement sustainability plans. This is particularly useful when it comes to greenhouse gas assessments, messaging, and certain kinds of technical work. For example, the Associated Students organization at the University of Montana hired 35 students as drivers, bike ambassadors, outreach specialists and office assistants when it dramatically increased alternative transit options, and in 2006-2007, the program reduced carbon emissions by roughly 170 tons.

The benefit for students, of course, is that they can hone professional skills such as collaboration, communication, project planning, statistical analysis and even technical abilities: all of which give them an edge in the job market when they graduate.

President Obama encourages students at Lorain County Community College. (LCCC/Jason Miller)

The Department of Labor, which is distributing $500 million of the stimulus package funds to various workforce projects in green fields, announced in January that a fifth of that money, split into chunks of $1.5 – 5 million, would go towards energy training partnerships. A key factor in the selection was collaboration: all recipients have at least half a dozen partners among local nonprofits, schools, employers, and workforce investment boards.

Bringing so many different groups together increases the odds of success, says Patrick McGuigan, executive director of The Providence Plan. His organization matches employers with apprentice training programs and the Community College of Rhode Island to help low- or unskilled workers earn the credentials necessary to work in energy-related fields.

It’s important to understand the needs of local firms, says McGuigan: “We have major employers here at Brown University, at Blue Cross/Blue Shield, who are moving forward to break ground on projects this spring. Increasingly, they’re committed to LEED-certified buildings, green technology, and they like that we’re creating a community-labor partnership that incorporates a new group of people.”

Even with the best information, however, there is a risk that more students will graduate than the market can accommodate, especially in a recession. McGuigan says, “It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. There’s a dynamic where we might worry we’re training people for jobs we can’t promise exist, but on the other hand, new technology can’t grow without having qualified workers.”

Patricia Meeks, executive director of grants & compliance at Memphis Bioworks Foundation, which received a grant for almost $3 million, isn’t worried. “The collaboration is a significant piece of this grant.We’ve got about ten employers that are making solid projections on what they need. For example, we know of some solar projects that have been approved, and will need workers very soon.”

The Memphis Bioworks Foundation will be working with four community colleges to expand training programs for solar installation, biomass production, and sustainable design and construction in Arkansas and western Tennessee. Meeks says, “MidSouth Community college is the mentor in this group. They have received several Department of Labor grants before this, and have developed a model curriculum that they will be sharing with the other schools.” This curriculum will then be modified for the needs in each area. In western Tennessee and eastern Arkansas, that means a focus on biofuels and agriculture in addition to energy.

The president describes initiatives that are intended to give rise to a clean energy economy. (LCCC/Jason Miller)

Like much of the stimulus funding, these grants are intended for immediate use, to get workers ready for employment as soon as possible. However, recipients hope they are the first step towards long-term economic revitalization and sustainable energy frameworks. Meeks, who imagines a pipeline for students leading from 18-month certificate programs to associate degrees to four-year colleges, calls this grant “Stage 1.”

Last week, speaking at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, OH, President Barack Obama encouraged students to educate themselves for new technologies. He had visited EMC Precision Manufacturing earlier in the day, and noted that stimulus funds made it possible for some of EMC’s workers to enroll in an intensive 6-month program after being laid off from other companies. Noting that federal funding was in part intended to help students like them, he said, “If you’re willing to take some tough and painful steps to make yourself more competitive, we’re willing to invest in your future.”

This week, an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education follows up on the issue, noting that "scores of institutions [...] are grappling with coal's problematic public image and very real environmental impacts," as students pressure the administration to find alternatives and federal legislators become more receptive to cap-and-trade limits on carbon dioxide pollution. The article also notes that the President's Climate Commitment, with its ambitious GHG reduction targets, is incompatible with burning coal.

What's most note-worthy is the attention paid to the lack of alternatives for campus-based power plants. For many schools, like Penn State, geothermal isn't possible due to the risk of contaminating groundwater supplies. Biomass–usually a mixture of woodchips and organic waste–which is in use at schools like Middlebury, is a logistical nightmare for big schools, because it is less energy-dense than coal and more is required to keep the furnaces running, and because it must be more protected from weather and damp. Biomass also requires a sharp eye on the source: if it comes from old growth or forests that are accounted as carbon sinks, it may be just as polluting as coal in the long run. Natural gas, which is often referred to as a "bridge" fuel because it is less polluting than coal but still generates some greenhouse gases, has unreliable supply lines. And so on.

Of course, efficiency helps somewhat. Upgrading boilers and capturing waste heat can wring more use out of any energy source, including coal, so less material is needed per unit of energy. However, this isn't a solution even in the short term, as energy needs continue to rise as the campus grows, and as students rely more on electronics that need to be constantly recharged. And cost can't be ignored, especially during a recession:

"If Penn State, Virginia Tech, and other institutions find an
alternative to coal, the question is, What will students do to help
cover any additional costs? "A part of our campaign would be to educate
students on why it's worth it to pay more for clean energy," says Rose
Monahan, a sophomore who leads the anti-coal campaign at Penn State.
Efforts to change students' behavior to save energy—which Ms. Monahan
calls "the hardest part" of reducing impacts­—are not part of her
group's work, but other groups on the campus focus on that issue."

Regardless, institutions are moving forward. The Chronicle story points out that the University of Wisconsin is working to find enough biomass for a new plant, and VA Tech and Penn State are also looking for ways to burn less (or no) coal. Cornell University's new combined heat and power plant launches this month, and is intended to
get the university coal-free by 2011.

This task isn't easy. If there's any clear lesson to draw, it's that each school's solution will look different. For example, this article doesn't go into options for schools that pull all their energy from the grid, and have less control over the sustainability of their fuel sources. Nor does it look at the western U.S., where solar energy plays a bigger role. Creating the precise mix of renewable energy, conservation, efficiency, and "bridge fuels" like natural gas that can sustain the activities of the university, and finding a way to pay for it, will require an unprecedented amount of work on the part of facilities managers and administrators, as well as increased support from students and faculty.

• Yale Climate Media Forum: This site focuses on youth engagement at Copenhagen; blogs will be submitted by a mix of writers, climate bloggers, photojournalists, youth advocates, and educators.
  
• DotEarth from the NYT, a regular favorite around here, will feature updates from Andy Revkin and Tom Zeller. Here's an introductory post with a short video describing the goal of the negotiations.
• Clicking on this link should bring up all articles and posts at Grist tagged "Copenhagen Climate Talks."
• Mother Jones's Blue Marble column includes reporting from the talks. 
• The Wall Street Journal pitches in with a business-oriented angle at Environmental Capital.
  
• And finally, Carly Queen, one of the Campus Ecology field coordinators and an outspoken youth advocate, will be updating this blog periodically, so check back here.

MSNBC reports that the $7 million dorm will be called the "Wildcat Coal Lodge," though it will be powered to at least some extent by green energy. According to the school, it will also meet LEED standards, though it is unclear which level of certification. But that doesn't appease students: At a Board of Trustees meeting, the vote was 16 to three in favor of naming the building after coal, but a small group of  student protesters (about 30, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader) gathered to make their objections known before being asked to leave by board members. The three votes against the lodge came from Ernest Yanarella, a faculty representative; Robynn Pease, the staff
representative; and Ryan M. Smith, the student representative.

UK's students are part of a growing movement targeted specifically against coal, which is still cheaper than many renewable options, but levies its own taxes on the climate and to mining regions' land, water, and communities.(It's Getting Hot in Here frequently covers student-led campaigns against coal mining in Appalachia.)

It's these externalized costs on health and living ecosystems that are the primary reason for protest. A recent National Research Council report notes that "In
2005, the total annual external damages from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides, and particulate matter created by burning coal at 406
coal-fired power plants, which produce 95 percent of the nation’s
coal-generated electricity, were about $62 billion; these nonclimate
damages average about 3.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour (kwh) of energy
produced.  A relatively small number of plants—10 percent of the total number—accounted for 43 percent of the damages" (emphasis added). The climate damages, of course, are well-documented elsewhere.

The Leadership Campaign, which had some students in Massachusetts sleeping outdoors between late October and Thanksgiving, also takes a stand on coal and climate. Students for a Just and Stable Future (formerly known as Power Shift Massachusetts), along with Jim Hansen and Bill McKibben, who each spent a night with the protestors, have been receiving citations (misdemeanor trespassing charges) for sleeping in tents on the Boston Commons, trying to convince legislators to pass a bill to power Massachusetts with 100 percent clean electricity by 2020. So far, more than 20 of the 200 state legislators have agreed to sign on to a letter asking Governor Patrick to introduce such a bill. Students at Western
Massachusetts U., Clark
U., Tufts
and Northeastern also "slept out" on their campuses to register their support.

The opportunity Tabari’s brother mentioned was a special set of job-training courses from the Oakland Green Jobs Corps–designed by the Ella Baker Center (EBC) in Oakland, CA. The program would give him eight months of training that could lead to an opportunity to work in solar power. Oakland is notorious for its high rate of crime and violent activity, as well as its unemployment rate, but EBC, in a partnership with the Oakland Apollo Alliance, is working to provide green “pathways out of poverty” for low-income or disadvantaged adults in the area.

The Oakland Green Jobs Corps, which works with Laney Community College, an apprenticeship building company called Cypress Mandela, and a workforce intermediary called Growth Sector, Inc, graduated its first class of 40 students this summer, after offering a four-stage course that combines the basic study of climate and sustainability with hard skills in construction, renewables and efficiency.

Of those 40, more than half have already found employment, no easy feat in recent years. Morris, who had already secured an internship by graduation day in June, is now an associate project manager at SunPower Corporation. He loves his job: “I saw as soon as I walked in this was where I wanted to be. The building is immaculate, it’s like working at Mercedes-Benz.” His original three month internship was extended until December, and he’s working on securing a permanent position.

As more and more graduates are faced with shriveling job markets, and millions of other students never reach a four-year college in the first place, community colleges and a handful of nonprofit organizations are stepping into the gap to provide options, and greener ones, to disadvantaged or impoverished students.

Emily Kirsch, Bay Area organizer for the Green Collar Jobs campaign, says the program works because it doesn’t merely teach hard skills in the green industry. “Because Laney CC is a partner, all the graduates are getting full-time community college credit. They learn about ecology, they talk about environmental justice, they talk about waste. Some of them are finding that it’s helpful when they go to job interviews, because the office culture is one where everyone recycles and no one uses plastic bags. So, in an interview, they can talk about the effects of pollution and climate change on them personally, and not just say that they know how to install a particular piece of equipment.”

Johnny Tafoya, who had been laid off four or five times in the past several years while working tech support, notes that the training was hard, especially as he couldn’t work or draw unemployment during it. “I had months where I wanted to give up, but pretty much every day, our instructors would tell us some story or teach us a life skill or bring in a graduate who would tell us where they came from and how they got through it. It gave me a lot of motivation.” Tafoya is now working at Sun Light & Power.

In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $150 million was granted to public and private projects that provide training and placement services for employment in industries that improve the environment or address climate change in some way. The programs that will eventually be funded must be targeted to unemployed individuals, high-school dropouts, individuals with a criminal record and disadvantaged people within a high-poverty area. The hope is that these grants, once awarded, will prepare trainees for careers, while also fueling the nation’s green industries, such as energy efficiency, green construction and solar energy. While the Oakland Green Jobs Corps would likely qualify under these restrictions, seed funding came from the city council in Oakland last year.  

Other state and local entities, like the Clean Energy Center [CEC] in Massachusetts, are involved with green jobs training as well. CEC announced this year it would award five grants totaling $1 million to community colleges and regional employment boards that train or apprentice unemployed and/or low-income individuals.

The heart of such legislation is not purely job generation. Some researchers, including the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), have pointed out that jobs labeled as green are more likely to pay well, and are also more likely to be union jobs, which can raise quality of life considerably. A White House staff report notes that “industrial machinery mechanics who work in power generation, an emerging green sector, earn about $28 per hour. Interestingly, mechanics with similar jobs, but who do not work in that power generating sector, earn about $6 less per hour.”

As training programs increase, they may also start to skew younger. One Oakland high school has created a Green Academy project with the support of the Ella Baker Center, which is modeled in part off the Green Jobs Corps. “Oakland Tech high school was interested in doing preventative work,” says Kirsh. “They wanted to give youth productive opportunities before they get caught up in a cycle of violence. 30 sophomores started the program in September, and will be in the program through their senior year.” Courses cover climate change and eco-literacy, but also include some hands-on training and involvement with the local community.

So far, successes in green jobs creation are small and far apart. But graduates say they are life-changing on an individual level, and that results can be immediate. Kirsch says, “Four of the graduates couldn’t come to graduation because they were working full-time. It was bittersweet, because we really wanted them there, but the point was to help them get those jobs, so we couldn’t be too sad about it.”