Ian Alexander/The Western Front SRE gathers support for its energy initiative. [Click to enlarge]

Western students pay $80 per quarter for the Wade King Student Recreation Center whether they use the facility or not. For $16 per quarter, however, Western could be entirely powered by renewable energy.

"It's not something we spend a lot of time thinking about," Western Utilities Services Manager Tom Thorp said of renewable-energy use on Western's campus.

Western sophomore Molly Ayre-Svingen and Western junior Nausheen Mohamedali, members of Western's Students for Renewable Energy, said they want to make renewable energy something Western students and faculty think about.

"Renewable energy is any energy source we don't use up by using it, like solar, wind and tidal power," faculty adviser of SRE Scott Brennan said.

Renewable energy is unlike non-renewable energy, such as fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, because it will always be available. According to SRE, if more people invest in renewable energy, it will become less expensive.

Brennan said renewable energy still impacts the environment, but the effects are less than those non-renewable energy causes.

Thorp said that between July 2002 and June 2003, Western used 33 million kilowatt hours of energy, making it one of the largest energy users north of Seattle.

"At the county level, (Western) has one of the largest electricity generating plants in Sumas," Brennan said. "That plant is an example of the effects of non-renewable energy."

Brennan said the pollution the plant generates causes tensions between the United States and British Columbia because wind blows the air pollution into Canada.

Thorp said Western currently does not use any renewable-energy sources, mostly because of cost.

"It's expensive," Thorp said. "Unfortunately, cost is a major consideration; we only have a certain amount of money that we set aside. I don't see why we would want to go out and spend more."

Mohamedali said SRE wants 18 percent of Western's energy sources to be "green" energy. She also said, by SRE's calculations, a $3-per-quarter fee for each student would buy approximately 5.4 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy from Puget Sound Energy, Western's energy provider. Mohamedali said if each student paid $16 per quarter, Western could be powered by 100 percent renewable energy.

"I don't know if people would pay $16 a quarter," Mohamedali said. "They might be like 'Why? What would we get out of it?' I think it's a personal thing for some people. That is why we want to go out there and educate the people, to get support."

Ayre-Svingen said education is important to gathering student support.

"The more people are educated about renewable energy, the more likely they will support it," she said.

SRE must obtain 600 student signatures on a petition by the end of February for its initiative to be on the Associated Students board of directors spring 2004 ballot. If the initiative passes, it will go before the board of trustees.

Mohamedali said the group is still discussing other options for raising the money. Group members said they do not want to force students to pay, and they want students to be aware of any costs for Western to use renewable energy.

Ayre-Svingen said she did not expect the amount of interest students showed in the group.

"I was really surprised by the positive feedback," she said. "It's amazing; everywhere I go people come up to me and say, 'Hey! I know you! You were in my class, and I like what you had to say, and it makes sense.' "

Thorp said if students show interest, Western might explore renewable-energy options.

"I would expect we would be willing to find a way to make that work if students were interested (in) paying the difference between what we were purchasing," Thorp said.

Brennan said socially responsible students should consider renewable energy.

"I think any Western student interested in minimizing his or her negative impact should take a look at using renewables," Brennan said. "This is another example of changing your behavior to reduce environmental impacts on other places."

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