The Students Promoting Environmental Action in Knoxville proposed several projects at a Student Environmental Initiatives Fee Committee Meeting on Nov. 17 at the Facilities Services Building.

The three projects S.P.E.A.K. proposed were providing funding for a bike program, on-site power generation through the use of solar panels, and water filtering stations on the UT campus, according to Stephen Holland, president of S.P.E.A.K. and S.P.E.A.K.'s Representative on the "Green Fee" Committee.

"The Student Environmental Initiatives Fee has allowed the university to move forward in regards to sustainable endeavors such as purchasing renewable energy and possibly establishing solar panels on campus," Holland said.

The bike program would involve taking old bikes and restoring them, so students could check them out to ride around campus. This program would provide alternative transportation for people who may not own a bike or a car, according to Nikki Swartwood, S.G.A. Representative on the Green Fee Committee.

"I am looking forward to watching UT's bike share program develop. When I had heard of other universities' successes with similar programs, I began to hope that U.T. would soon have a bike share of its own," Swartwood said. "The program will offer an alternative, greener transportation choice for UT students."

The on-site power generation through the use of solar panels will cost more money up front but will save the university money in the long-run, according to Reagan Richmond, former S.P.E.A.K. president and Student Representative on the Green Fee Committee.

"I am really excited about the funding being approved by the Green Fee for the solar project. It is going to generate a significant amount of renewable energy. This will show students that solar power is a viable energy source," Richmond said.

There are tentative plans to relocate the current solar display from Presidential Court to the west side of the Hesler Chiller Building, according to Terry Ledford, Chair of the Green Fee Committee and Senior Project Manager for Facilities Services.

"The new location will be both better public exposure for the display and will have better exposure to sunlight as compared to the current location."--Terry Ledford, Chair of the Green Fee Committee

 The water-filtering stations would accompany S.P.E.A.K.'s Banning of Plastic Water Bottles campaign, which involves banning of sale plastic water bottles in campus convenient stores and in residential restaurants. The water-filtering stations would provide clean water for students to fill their reusable water bottles, and less waste of nonrenewable materials would result.

Other project proposals were suggested at the Green Fee Committee Meeting. Purchasing another recycling truck to expand recycling capacity on campus was one of the proposals. Currently, UT only has two trucks that have to run continuously to pick up all of the recycled materials around campus, according to Jay Price, Facilities Services' Environmental Coordinator.

"The new recycling truck will enable us to expand the recycling program 4-fold from our current totals. It will make the job of picking up paper, cardboard, plastic and cans from campus buildings much more efficient and safe," Price said.

"The truck will enable us to save costs from additional labor that would be necessary if we continue picking up recyclables with the equipment that we have now," Price said. "The truck will also be a traveling billboard, so to speak, of Make Orange Green and the Environmental Facilities Fee because it will be named and decorated the way the students want it."

Another proposal that was made at the meeting was to raise the total energy used from renewable energy sources on the UT campus to around 3.5 percent. The university is part of the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership. Until now, the EPA required that 2 percent of the total energy used come from renewable energy sources. The EPA is now going to require 3 percent as part of the criteria, according to Holland.

Committee members also talked about upgrading buildings on the UT campus by replacing incandescent light bulbs with florescent bulbs. Money from the Green Fee is intended to go toward making the buildings more efficient, according to Holland.

All proposals accepted by the Student Environmental Initiatives Committee will also need to be approved by the Facilities Fee Oversight Committee, according to Gordon Bennett, Sustainability Manager for Facilities Services and Green Fee committee member.

The Student Environmental Initiatives Fee was put in place by students through an SGA referendum. It went into effect the fall of 2005. This fund generates an estimated $800,000 a year that is used for sustainability initiatives on campus, according to Richmond.

"The Student Environmental Initiatives Fee has been instrumental to the pursuit of sustainability at UT Knoxville.  Since the fee was first launched in fall 2005, it has generated more than $1.6 million for on- and off-campus stewardship projects," Bennett said. "I can't thank S.P.E.A.K. and U.T.K. students enough for their strong support for these projects."