Group promotes solar energy

By CINDY GONZALES & MAURICE O. NDOLE

Greenpeace organization brought its Rolling Sunlight Tour Truck to Fresno State Thursday to help bring attention to the RenewCSU clean energy campaign.

The event organized by Fresno State’s Campus Peace and Civil Liberties group attracted several students who who wrote petition letters asking the university to start a renewable energy campaign.

“The event went well and was a success,” said Khara Matcham, a member of Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition and one of the organizers of the event.

The Rolling Sunlight Tour Truck, a biodiesel-fueled vehicle, is equipped with solar panels on its top.
The biodiesel is made from vegetable oil.

An onboard storage facility provides energy to the truck. The energy from the truck was used by DJ Papa Paz to play music and a movie for the audience during the event.

Students, faculty and staff were able to witness solar energy being used as an alternative resource on campus.

“I think it’s a great idea to learn how to use all this free energy that is coming from the sun,” Sam Gitchel, Fresno State director of Social Norms said.

Several CSU campuses, including Humboldt, San Diego and Chico, have adopted the clean energy policy and have started using solar and wind energy generated on their campuses as alternative on-site renewable energy sources.

“I think all of us should be looking for ways to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and electric companies,” Gitchel said.

Josh Lynch, a member of Greenpeace, who brought the truck to Fresno State said his organization was not out to make any money from the project.

Lynch said currently, the CSU system is the largest university system without an official clean energy policy.

Robin Trayler, a sophomore majoring in anthropology said there was a “very good student turn out” in support of the campaign.

More than 30 students wrote letters petitioning university president John Welty to support the campaign.

The students who signed the pettition were treated to solar slushies, a drink made using solar energy from the truck.

Sean Putnam, a Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition member, said the group would present Welty with the students letters to show student support of using clean energy sources on campus.

A sample of the letter presented to Welty asked the president to support the clean energy design for Fresno State.

The sought support from Welty, to vote for the project in the up-coming CSU board meeting.

The letter stated once the policy is started, it would save the university money by generating about 500 KW of solar energy by 2010.

The letter recommended that the university adopt Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, silver standards, an energy efficiency certification.

LEED silver standards were stated in the Senate Bill Report SB 5509 as an act relating to high-performance green buildings, requiring public buildings to be built using high-performance green building standards.

Green building is a term used to describe development and construction standards that promote environmental conservation.

Introduced in 2000 by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED provides national design guidelines and a third-party certification tool for rating commercial green buildings.

LEED certification is based on a point system, focusing on six major areas: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design process.

LEED certification has four ranks: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.

Broadcast major Anjelica Cebreros a member of Campus Peace and Civil Liberties Coalition, said she hoped Welty would support their campaign.

“We hope that he’ll push it so that the campaign can pass,” Cebreros said.

The “clean energy policy” will be voted on in July to determine if the CSU will adopt a renewable energy policy.