‘Green’ grants at UA aim for payback on projects

Students, faculty and staff with ideas on reducing campus waste may apply for newly established grant funding at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

The Green Revolving Fund will offer awards “probably of less than $1,000” to applicants with ideas for environmentally sustainable projects that promise a payback on the initial grant investment, said Cassandra Gronendyke, administrative specialist with the UA’s Office for Sustainability.

Such payback must be expected within five years or less for projects to receive funding, Gronendyke said.

“The savings will continue to feed back into the fund as a whole, so it will grow over time and be able to be reinvested,” Gronendyke said.

Theresa Ehrlich, a UA graduate student and member of UA’s Sustainability Council, said the fund has $10,000 in its first year, with the source of funds evenly split between UA’s Office for Sustainability and UA’s Facilities Management department. Both entities have committed to the same level of funding over the next five years, she said.

The university on Monday released information about how to apply for the grants, describing potential projects as focusing on greenhouse gas reduction, energy efficiency, waste reduction or “other sustainability-related benefits.”

Reducing greenhouse gas may involve reducing electricity or water usage, Gronendyke said.

Ehrlich and another graduate student, Keaton Smith, serve as chairmen of a work group of UA’s Sustainability Council that pushed for the idea.

Ehrlich, a master’s student in public administration, said her academic focus is environmental policy. Her work began with a class project in a course on sustainability in business.

Working with Smith, a business student, the pair sought ways to boost student involvement in campus sustainability efforts.

“We started doing some research about things on campus, and we found there was already sort of a push for a Green Revolving Fund but they were having some difficulty getting it implemented,” Ehrlich said.

The UA Sustainability Council includes students, faculty and staff. After the council voted to approve the fund, UA officials signed off on the project, Ehrlich said.

“It wasn’t just Keaton or myself, it was several different departments. It was many different people working on it,” she said.

Projects could be as small as changing light bulbs to more efficient LED lighting or switching toilets to more water-conserving models, Ehrlich said.

Gronendyke said the new fund also will help students who are required to complete a “capstone” project for a minor in sustainability.

“Funding issues can be a big barrier to students who have a really good idea, but they don’t have any way to get it going,” Gronendyke said.

UA established the minor in sustainability in August 2011 that is open to all undergraduates.

Steve Boss, director of sustainability academic programs at UA, said about 120 students are enrolled in the minor. He said that one sustainability course has about 30 more students than it did last year, and sustainability is a popular topic for students.

But some ideas have costs, he noted.

“If a student proposes placing a solar photovoltaic panel on a building or putting it up to run lights on campus, those pieces of equipment cost some money,” said Boss, describing the new fund as a way to help those students.

The Associated Student Government also helped establish the Green Revolving Fund. Gronendyke said similar funds have been established at other colleges and universities.

Grant applications are due by Nov. 26 and will be reviewed by UA’s Sustainability Council.

Project proposals may be localized to one area of campus but could be spread beyond a single dormitory or building, Gronendyke said.

“That is another purpose of the fund, is to sort of engage the campus community in testing out different ideas,” Gronendyke said.

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