The Class of '70's Green 'Gate Initiative

 

Our 50thReunion Planning Committee has decided to “go green” in the selection of our class gift by giving a big boost to Colgate’s Green Revolving Loan Fund.  With financing from us, the GRLF will implement projects designed to substantially reduce the university’s carbon footprint, lower its operating expenses and help the Hamilton community to become more energy efficient.  It is only fitting that our class, which celebrated the first Earth Day just weeks before graduation, should reaffirm that commitment with this gift.  We have named it the Green 'Gate Initiative.

 

In 2009 Colgate enhanced its pledge to operate in an environmentally responsible manner by promising to become carbon neutral within 10 years.  The programs it has undertaken since cover a wide range of activities, many of which were coordinated by the university’s Office of Sustainability.  

 

The results have been dramatic.  Net carbon emissions decreased 48 percent between 2009 and 2016.  Colgate’s achievements have drawn national attention and praise.  The university was one of 24 institutions out of 861 to make the Princeton Review’s Green Honor Roll in 2015.  In that same year and again in 2016, Sierra magazine named Colgate one of America’s “coolest schools.”

 

While much has been accomplished, success has revealed how much more needs to be done and could be done if Colgate had resources specifically designated to finance projects to reduce its ecological and carbon footprints. This is where our support comes into play.

 

What the GRLF is…

 

The Green Revolving Loan Fund is an internal fund administered by the Office of Sustainability in collaboration with other university departments.  The GRLF is earmarked for energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy and other environmental-sustainability projects that generate cost savings over time while reducing carbon and ecological footprints.  Savings are monitored and reinvested into the fund to finance future green investments.

 

The broad goals of the GRLF program are to make Colgate more economically, environmentally and socially responsible, as well as to promote an awareness of environmental stewardship among those on campus and in the surrounding community.  Similar programs currently exist at approximately 80 American colleges and universities.  The two largest GRLF-type funds are those at the University of Vermont ($13 million) and Harvard ($12 million).

 

How the GRLF works…

 

Proposals for “green” projects are submitted to the GRLF committee for evaluation.  Required information includes a brief description of current practices and why they are inefficient or wasteful, project cost estimates and anticipated operational savings, among other details.  

 

Upon project approval and implementation, cost savings are monitored and returned to the GRLF annually until 120 percent of the initial project cost has been restored. After that, all savings are retained by the university’s operating budget.  

 

Benefits from the GRLF…

 

In an op-ed article for The New York Times, David Bornstein equates spending on green energy with finding money on the street.  “The returns are tremendous, and there’s virtually no risk.” The renewable structure of the fund makes it an ongoing source of support for future projects.  It’s the gift that keeps on benefiting the university. (The Harvard Green Loan Fund reports that it achieves a higher rate of return some years than Harvard’s endowment.)

 

Recent renewable energy projects at Colgate provide compelling examples of what the GRLF could have financed if it had had adequate resources. Chapel House was equipped with a geothermal renewable energy system to heat and cool the building.  External fuels are no longer used.  An investment of $150,000 has produced operational savings of over $20,000 per year.

 

The re-commissioning of the Ho Science Center provides another example of a project the GRLF could have financed.  Colgate spent approximately $100,000 on the building’s mechanical and air handling systems to improve energy efficiency and conservation.  That expenditure resulted in a savings of $189,000 since the project was completed in 2016.  The GRLF could have been paid back with interest in less than a year.

 

These examples are only the tip of the iceberg.  The Office of Sustainability and the Facilities Department have identified dozens of additional projects that will have to wait until the money can be found to undertake them.  The lack of funding has already taken a toll.  The two new residence halls currently under construction should have been equipped with geothermal energy systems like the one in Chapel House. A lack of GRLF funds, among other things, put this out of reach.

 

Reasons for supporting GRLF with our class gift…

 

Properly administered, the GRLF can save Colgate an enormous amount of money for years to come.  

 

The GRLF is the gift that keeps on giving.  As it grows, it will develop new approaches to reducing Colgate’s ecological and carbon footprints.  The GRLF could also extend its services to the university’s neighboring communities.

 

The goals of the GRLF are widely supported by the Colgate administration, staff, faculty and student body.

 

Supporting the GRLF is a reaffirmation of the values held by the vast majority of our classmates.