View From The Hill
(3/19/09)

ENERGY POLICY

When WKU rolled out a comprehensive energy policy yesterday, it was the
culmination of a long process.

In this week's View from the Hill, Amy Bingham has more on the
university's plan to help reduce Kentucky's environmental footprint.

It's only been a month since Governor Steve Beshear unveiled two state-
wide energy saving initiatives.
Now is the perfect time for Western Kentucky University to follow suit.

“Today I'm pleased to announce WKU is joining you in
this important effort."

 During his visit to WKU, Governor Steve Beshear applauded the
university's leadership in energy consumption and reminded everyone how
easy it is to help.

 "Taking steps to conserve energy and use energy
efficient products is so easy anybody can do it."

 Indeed some components of the policy are as simple as turning the
lights off when you leave a room, turning your computer off at the end
of the day and setting your thermostat to a lower level.

 "We got a lot of feedback from faculty and staff they were asking the question why aren’t we turning out lights, why aren’t we turning off computers, why aren’t we being better stuards of energy?

Energy efficiency is a top priority in the construction of the new
College of Education building...it's  LEED building known as Leadership in energy and environmental design.

 "WKU is ready, WKU is eager and supportive of making
our campus sustainable."

Junior Sara Ferguson served on the energy conservation task force and
says students voices are heard throughout the policy.

 "What we started as a student movement has been
instituted into policy that will last for years after we've graduated.

 "To have it culminate with a visit from the Governor
to celebrate is more than we could dream of and we couldn't be happier."

WKU is hosting a statewide sustainability conference next month.  To learn more go to greencampusky.org.
With this week’s View from the Hill, I’m Amy Bingham.