| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.60 |
| Liaison | Sean MacInnes |
| Submission Date | Feb. 27, 2015 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Chad
Carwein Sustainability Education and Outreach Specialist Sustainability Office |
Does the institution advocate for national, state/provincial, or local public policies that support campus sustainability or that otherwise advance sustainability?:
A brief description of how the institution engages in public policy advocacy for sustainability, including the issues, legislation, and ordinances for or against which the institution has advocated:
The UNC Office of Federal Government Relations supports legislation that "authorizes energy research opportunities." UNC also supports "preserving current funding levels for the Department of Energy (DOE) research grants and contracts with Universities"
As part of the state budget consideration process in both the 2013 Long Session and 2014 Short Session of the North Carolina General Assembly, UNC campuses advocated to increase the amount of funds permitted by law to be carried forward from one fiscal year to the next to support strategic investments including the implementation of energy savings projects and other efficiency initiatives.
In February 2013, UNC schools presented a policy proposal to the legislature regarding energy service contracts. Previously, only one campus in the system was permitted to implement energy conservation measures without an ESCO under the provisions of G.S. 143-64.17L. In August 2013 an additional campus in the system was permitted by the General Assembly to self-perform energy conservation and efficiency efforts (SL 2013-396). UNCG has asked the UNC System to support legislative efforts to expand this provision to include other universities (UNCG and others) so that all universities have the option to either use an ESCO or implement energy conservation projects on their own. It is generally accepted that ESCO contracts have profit margins in the 30% range. Allowing the universities to implement these projects without the involvement of an ESCO will result in investing the ESCO profit (say 30%) into actual energy conservation measures (primarily equipment) that will result in increasing the energy savings of the state. UNCG has not received authority to self-perform energy efficiency projects. UNCG will continue to support efforts to expand access to additional campuses.
A brief description of other political positions the institution has taken during the previous three years:
No additional political positions taken
A brief description of political donations the institution made during the previous three years (if applicable):
N/A
The website URL where information about the institution’s advocacy efforts is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Information for this credit was received from Mike Tarrant, Director of Strategic Initiatives at UNCG.
Information for this credit was received from Mike Tarrant, Director of Strategic Initiatives at UNCG.
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