Poll finds students would pay more for cleaner energy

To encourage the University to use renewable energy sources, the Princeton Environmental Network student group recently conducted a survey to measure student response to the initiative.

And the results of the survey were encouraging, PEN co-chair Cathy Kunkel '06 said.

About 87 percent of students asked said they would be willing to pay an additional fee if Princeton were to use the money to purchase renewable energy. Of those who were willing to pay an additional fee, 78 percent said they would be willing to pay $20 or more in additional fees to the University to purchase this energy.

However, Kunkel said the group is not concerned as much with the hard numbers in the survey as with the general campus sentiments expressed in the results.

"I'd be careful not to put too much emphasis on exact percentages," Kunkel said. "More importantly, they show strongly that students are interested in renewable energy and that it's an important issue the University should consider."

PEN has already begun talks with the University's facilities department about possibly using funds to buy renewable energy.

"We're looking into the possibility of purchasing solar and wind power and right now it's looking fairly favorable," Kunkel said.

Subsidizing construction

If the University were to use funds to purchase renewable energy sources, though, the power may not directly be siphoned to its facilities, Kunkel said. The money donated to the cause of clean power would be used to subsidize the construction of renewable energy sources that would help supplant the use of unclean production.

The University produces more than half of its own power at the cogeneration facility near the MacMillan Building, which produces both electricity and steam. The University also purchases electricity from the local network.

While the University has provided no definite answer to PEN, the issue remains on Princeton's agenda thanks in part to the survey results, Kunkel said.

But this initiative is not unique to Princeton's campus. Momentum for the project started outside the University's borders and beyond PEN's membership.

At this year's Ivy League Environmental Coalition — a group formed at the Greening the Ivies conference last year and composed of two students from each Ivy institution — delegates agreed to return to their schools and lead local movements for the purchase of renewable energy.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

The group is also working with the Ivy Council to produce a resolution to formally encourage the Ivy universities to purchase renewable energy.

Kunkel and Cathy Malina '05 represented the University at this year's Coalition meeting at Brown University over fall break.

While conducting the survey, PEN sampled 416 students across the campus, directing their efforts in Frist Campus Center and at the residential dining halls.

PEN is an organization that links various student led environmental groups on Princeton's campus, including the Princeton Conservation Society and Princeton Environmental Action. The group was established in the fall of 2002.