Evanston and Northwestern are looking for new strategies for conserving and purchasing energy.
About 70 Evanston residents met Wednesday night at the Evanston Public Library to learn about the city’s options when its contract with energy provider Commonwealth Edison expires in March. Event organizers said they are planning a follow-up meeting for Nov. 20.
Presenters discussed the options for renewable energy sources, conservation and deregulation.
Evanston and NU have separate contracts with ComEd. When its contract expires in a few years, NU also will try to increase energy efficiency, said Ronald Nayler, associate vice president for facilities management.
Under its current contract, NU agreed not pursue a cogeneration program in return for cheaper energy rates so the university could pay less in the short term.
In cogeneration, turbines use the steam created from heating and cooling buildings and generate electricity. This reduces waste and could save energy costs.
Because of deregulation, ComEd since has changed its stance against cogeneration, Nayler said, so the university is looking at bringing the technique to the Evanston Campus.
Nayler said reliability problems with ComEd, including three outages at NU in the past six weeks, also suggest that the university should have more power over its energy generation.
“With these outages it makes sense for us to hold the future in our hands and not ComEd’s,” said Nayler, who formerly served on the Evanston Energy Commission.
Nayler said NU has used consultants three times in the past three years, but that they have not found other ways to conserve energy.
But NU does not involve students in the planning, which has concerned Weinberg senior Genevieve Maricle since she learned about student input at the United Nations Global Conference on Climate Change in July and November of 2000.
“I was amazed how much they were involved at other schools,” said Maricle, co-president of Students for Ecological and Environmental Development. “I think more involvement here would be beneficial for the students and people on the boards.”
At Michigan State University, a department that looks into ecological issues has students as permanent members and invites students to all meetings.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to have people who are not biased as members of the administration,” said Terry Link, director of Michigan State’s Office of Campus Sustainability. “This is a learning institution, and it is critical to have students involved from the get-go.”
Maricle said a university energy summit is a good idea, especially if it involves students.
“I think it is great, and I wish we had it here,” Maricle said. “I wish we even had an office of campus sustainability.”
One of SEED’s concerns is the amount of energy used to heat dorms. A survey of students in most dormitories found that about 90 percent said their dorms were too hot.
Nayler said some dorms have problems with their control systems, which do not allow adequate modification of the temperature.
Presenters at the forum suggested ways Evanston can conserve energy, such as giving incentives to people who trade in old air conditioners and household appliances.
The city of Chicago and 48 local governments, not including Evanston, have joined to reduce energy rates for public buildings, said Hans Detweiler, policy advocate for the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Chicago’s agreement with ComEd also requires that 20 percent of the energy provided must be from renewable resources, such as solar energy and wind power.
That Evanston is not a part of this agreement should surprise residents, considering the liberal inclination of the city, Detweiler said.
“Because of the presence of Northwestern and the general citizenry of Evanston, I think people would be shocked to find out that Chicago is ahead of them,” Detweiler said.
