Pres. Kinslow to sign Climate Commitment

ACC will strive to procure twenty percent of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2020. Committing to use a substantial amount of renewable energy is a lofty goal, considering that ACC has only recently begun to examine ways as an institution to reduce its impact on the environment. ACC has made great strides in incorporating environmental sustainability when the ACC Board of Trustees adopted their policy on sustainability which will guide the college for years to come.

"The board has been looking into sustainability for about a year. At first we were focusing on how new campuses were constructed, but through student efforts the discussion grew to include recycling and carbon emissions," said Veronica Rivera, Vice Chair of ACC's Board of Trustees.

The ACC Board of Trustees approved their wide-ranging policy on sustainability at the last board meeting on Feb. 2. An administrative policy with guidelines and procedures accompanied the board policy and will spell out how the college will address sustainability. However, the administrative policy will have to be reviewed by students and ACC employees before the policy is enacted.

One of the requirements of the proposed guidelines and procedures will mandate that all new ACC buildings be designed and built to a minimum standard equivalent of LEEDTM Silver rating, which the new Round Rock Campus will be built to.

"I'm definitely for a greener campus here and nation wide. I think colleges and universities should set the example, and nurture new ideas in order to become greener and more sustainable," said ACC student Arnold Perez.

The policy also calls for ACC to calculate and track its carbon emissions from various sources including electricity production, ACC police cars, and other fleet vehicles.

Students in the Carbon Emission Assessment Committee are currently calculating the carbon emissions from South Austin Campus, which in addition to electricity usage, also includes staff and student transportation. In future years, the carbon inventories will be completed under the direction of the ACC Director of Sustainability, a position currently being filled.

"I think it's awesome that ACC will track its carbon output. Eventually this is going to be the standard," said Addie Broussard, president of Students for Environmental Outreach.

Several student groups have asked ACC President Kinslow, to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The commitment requires that institutions set a "target date for achieving climate neutrality as soon as possible". 614 higher education institutions thought the nation have already signed the commitment. Dr. Kinslow has agreed to sign the commitment at a later date.