Student sustainability tax up for vote

Student senators are looking to update campus facilities to reduce carbon emissions and encourage more students to use public transportation.

Senator Brendan Castricano, who is up for re-election this year, has taken the initiative to reduce Portland State’s carbon footprint by putting together the Green Initiative Fund, a $5-per-term fee supported by all the upcoming presidential candidates in student elections.

The Green Initiative Fund is a referendum that will be on the ballots in next week’s election.

Castricano explained that the recently awarded Miller Grant doesn’t actually go to construction projects to help reduce Portland State’s reportedly 44,000-metric-ton carbon footprint.

The plan would need more funding to even bring Portland State up to par with other university campuses leading the campaign of sustainability.

The increase would generate an additional $500,000 each year for new sustainable projects and modernizing existing structures.

“I am really excited about the green revolving loan fund, which is a pool of money that works again and again as PSU takes loans from this pool and saves money by replacing utilities with sustainable ones, to pay back to the loan,” Castricano said.

Castricano mentioned other schools that have similar programs.

“Harvard has a revolving loan fund that saved the school $4 million since it was created,” he said.

Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers claimed in a press release that this was the best investment to make in his university.

Additionally, Castricano’s plan would push to hire a full-time conservation and renewable energy manager, who would coordinate and manage the new projects.

Robyn Pierce, director of facilities and planning at Portland State, supports the proposed position.

Portland State’s utilities budget just for educational and management buildings is about $4.5 million annually. The fund may help decrease this cost in the long run by updating the electrical systems in older buildings and putting in conservation-friendly fixtures.

“There is a lot of talk about making the area around Portland State a living lab for sustainability, an eco-district, along with the new Center for Sustainability Building,” Castricano said.

Castricano has also been working on the new eco-wiki for Portland State, ecowiki.pdx.edu, which describes the initiative in detail.

The facilities and planning department, as well as the candidates running for president and vice president, have applauded the Green Initiative Fund.