by Keri Burson
Daily Lobo
Many students worry that UNM is not doing its part to reduce the air pollution that can lead to health problems in the community.
Members of Students for Clean Energy and the University of New Mexico Public Interest Research Group met in Mitchell Hall last Tuesday, to discuss performing an independent audit on campus to discover what role, if any, UNM is playing in Albuquerque's pollution problems.
The results of the audit will help the students determine how much energy UNM consumed this past year and if it could have been used more efficiently, explained Shannon Lumpkin, UNM's Public Interest Research Group director.
Both nonprofit student-run organizations are planning on performing the audit themselves in an effort to reduce overall air pollution and convince University officials to implement the use of renewable energy sources.
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"We would like to just see for ourselves what the situation is," said Colin Husson, founder of Students for Clean Energy at UNM. "We want to see an increase of energy efficiency on campus, as well as an increase of energy from clean sources."
Husson said that 70 percent of UNM's energy comes from natural gas and the other 30 percent from coal. He also said that 85 percent of New Mexico's energy comes from coal and nuclear sources, which are the most toxic forms of air pollution, and are directly related to cancer, asthma and other health-related problems.
"We first want to know if there is an efficiency policy in effect and then progress from there," Lumpkin said. "We eventually want to see the use of solar energy."
According to the Public Interest Research Group's Web site, New Mexico is second in the nation for solar potential, third for geothermal potential and 12th for wind potential.
The students will use the audit's results in an effort to persuade University President Chris Garcia to consider implementing renewable energy sources in all campus buildings.
Despite the concerns of these students, UNM has received several awards honoring its efforts to reduce pollution, including the Pollution Prevention Award from Albuquerque's Wastewater Utility Division and the Pollution Prevention Award of Excellence.
These awards are in honor of exemplary progress in several areas on campus, including reducing the number and types of pesticides and fertilizer used on campus, properly storing chemicals, maintaining records of recycled materials and waste disposal, having a written spill control and chemical hygiene plan and conserving water and energy.
"We think these efforts are great," said Husson. "What we would like to see is energy efficiency coupled with renewable sources."
Lumpkin said that the results of the audit will be a positive tool for rallying the support of other campus organizations to help with persuading the president to consider alternative energy forms.
"Our motivation behind this thing is the health effects of pollution," Husson said. "Coal and natural gas can cause cancer, along with other negative health effects. It just doesn't make sense to use them if we don't have to."
