Penn State's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions received national recognition in a report released last month by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).
The report, titled Higher Education in a Warming World -- The Business Case for Climate Leadership on Campus, points to Penn State's Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP) as one of the leading initiatives at the university.
The GESP makes up 12 percent of the total 17.5 percent of emissions projected to be reduced in the next six years.
Penn State was one of four institutions listed in a section about dedication to emissions reduction in an effort to combat global warming, according to the report.
"Penn State has traditionally been a leader," said Julian Keniry, NWF senior director of campus and community leadership.
The Take Charge program, a component of the GESP, works to make students aware of their on-campus environmental presence.
The project urges students to do simple things like turning off lights in their dorms or apartments.
"We want to reduce our utility footprint and environmental emissions," said Laura Miller, Penn State Office of Physical Plant (OPP) energy program engineer and Take Charge coordinator.
The report lays out the arguments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions on campuses and highlights the best practices from U.S. colleges and universities.
Penn State is listed as one of 105 schools from 32 different states mentioned.
Keniry said most scientists agree that the world needs to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
"Penn State is a leading example of how we are already doing it," Keniry said.
OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said the university has been a leader in reducing emissions for more than 30 years.
"We have a wide array of active programs both on the engineering level and the student action level," Ruskin said, "so it doesn't surprise us at all that Penn State is being labeled as a leader."
Miller said the emission-reducing Take Charge program is funded by the utility budget, which is used to fund changes that help reduce energy expenses.
"The program helps us redirect money that would normally go to the electrical or coal company," she said.
Geosciences professor Richard Alley -- a Nobel Prize winner for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- said the role of colleges in combating global warming is immense. "Penn State has recognized this as a big deal," Alley said. "In a lot of ways you'll see that Penn State is out front on this issue." Alley also said the problem is a costly one, pointing to studies that show a 1 percent loss to the global economy, or $500 billion, for every year people don't cut emissions. "How many jobs is $500 billion a year?" he said. Keniry said students are important to the solution to global warming because they have "intellectual muscle and economic clout."
