City, campus focus on improving environmental grade
Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the university an overall C- grade.
Published Feb. 2, 2007
Last week, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a group that studies higher education endowment policies, issued a report rating various colleges and universities on how environmentally friendly their campuses are. As a whole, MU received a C-.
The institute rated schools in seven categories: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement.
MU received a total of four Cs, one B, and two Fs. The lone B was in the category of food and recycling.
Leon Schumacher, professor of agricultural systems management, said the grade surprised him because he thinks the campus is proactive.
"To the outsider, we probably don't do that much since so many of the environmental policies are conducted in conjunction with or through the city of Columbia," Schumacher said.
He said one of the report's problems is that it took data from the entire UM system, not just the Columbia campus.
In addition, many of the criteria used in the grading process dealt with endowment and administrative support.
"Take it with a grain of salt," Sustain Mizzou President Ben Datema said. "A lot of it dealt with endowment issues."
Sustain Mizzou, founded in 2003, is a non-partisan, non-profit organization run by student volunteers at MU.
It has a membership of 25 student volunteers.
"We believe that environmental health is a human issue, not a political one," Sustain Mizzou Vice President Alexis Malone said.
Datema said the report's methodology was flawed because it did not include many MU programs and initiatives because they are not official or under the university's direct jurisdiction.
"There are a lot of things that go on that are not considered official," Datema said.
Schumacher said MU has done a good job with managing its energy demands.
In particular, he said it has experimented with non-traditional and renewable energy sources including corncobs and used tires.
"The power plant has played a big role in terms of using renewable resources," Schumacher said. "Most recently is the use of corncobs. The corncobs replace 3 to 5 percent of coal used."
MU is at the forefront of using corncobs as a fuel source.
Because it is a new idea, power plant officials had to get special approval from Jefferson City, Schumacher said.
Another fuel source MU is experimenting with is used tires.
Schumacher said the disposal of used rubber tires poses a huge ecological problem.
Tires do not biodegrade easily and often serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes that can carry diseases.
The MU Power Plant uses a special process to cleanly combust the tires.
"Tires burn cleaner than coal," Schumacher said.
According to the MU power plant's Web site, the power plant uses coal with low sulfur content in order to reduce sulfur emissions and uses special high-efficiency combustion methods.
"As clean as the MU power plant is, the Columbia power plant has even higher standards," Schumacher said.
MU Power Plant Superintendent Gregg Coffin said the plant's goals are to explore sustainable fuels to reduce emissions, support local agricultural businesses and to possibly lower fuel costs.
"Based on our initial review, we believe that the cost of corncobs will be equivalent or less than coal and is not expected to escalate as fast as other conventional fuels," Coffin stated in a news release.
Environmental sustainability is also a goal for other campus departments.
Campus Dining Services Director Julaine Kiehn said the department has made sustainability a priority.
It has tried to achieve this by increasing recycling efforts and using organic produce.
"We have been trying for the past two years to use local farms," Kiehn said.
According to a report Kiehn compiled, Campus Dining Services has undertaken several actions to address environmental issues, including recycling cardboard and paper and restricting the use of Styrofoam products.
"There is also potential for the use of pulp," Kiehn said.
Pulp is a byproduct of food waste that can be used as a fertilizer.
Another department that has made efforts to reduce its environmental impact is the MU athletic department.
"A couple of years ago, we started being really concerned about our use of energy and have made a conscious effort to reduce our demands," athletic department spokesman Chad Moller said.
The combined efforts of Sustain Mizzou and the Anheuser-Busch Green Team program picked up trash after home football games. A total of 19 tons of items were recycled at the end of last year's season.
"We do what we can", Moeller said.
Jared Cole, the founding president of Sustain Mizzou said he thought the campus deserved a grade of B- in regard to recycling.
"Compared to other peer universities, we are doing really well," Cole said. "But there is still some work to be done."
City increases the amount of renewable energy
Environmentally concerned Columbia citizens approved an ordinance in 2004 to gradually increase the amount of renewable energy supplied to the city.
According to a report by Columbia Water and Light, Columbia is well on its way to meeting that goal.
The renewable energy ordinance requires 15 percent of Columbia's energy portfolio to be renewable by the year 2023.
So far, Columbia is ahead of schedule having reached the 2 percent mark before the required deadline of 2008.
Mayor Darwin Hindman is a supporter of Columbia's green push.
"The strategy needs to be a combination of acquiring renewable resources and energy conservation," he said.
Hindman said at a recent conference of mayors he attended in Washington, D.C., the "topic of the day" was cities pushing to use renewable energy and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
But much of the push to increase Columbia's renewable energy has come from its residents.
Wind turbines in King City, Mo., and a Jefferson City landfill gas plant, a plant that turns natural gas from decomposing waste into energy, will provide the renewable energy.
The goal to achieve 2 percent of the city's electricity through renewable resources by the end of 2007 is the first in four steps to ultimately reach 15 percent by 2023.
New power facilities in and around Columbia would help the city reach its final goal.
Columbia Water and Light spokeswoman Connie Kacprowicz said the wind program Columbia will use is the first of its kind in Missouri.
Construction of the Jefferson City landfill plant should begin in the spring and will be completed toward the end of 2007.
Columbia is also expected to construct its own landfill plant to meet the increased demand required by the deadlines.
The city is in the process of selecting a contractor to construct and operate the plant.
The plant operates by extracting methane gas from the landfill, which will be used to displace fossil fuel generated electricity.
"It's very exciting to meet goals and surpass them," Kacprowicz said "We just hope to keep the momentum going."
Kacprowicz said there is a downside to utilizing wind turbines for electricity.
She said during the summer when electricity demand is the highest, the wind in Missouri is slowest. Due to this uncertainty, the percentage of wind farm contribution is only an estimate.
Hindman said he is excited about the direction in which Columbia's energy policy is headed. Columbia is "way ahead of a lot of cities," he said.