CERF'S Up
Timothy Den-Herder Thomas was one of eight U.S. students selected for the 2007 Global Leadership Institute sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

Timothy Den-Herder Thomas'09
Jersey City, New Jersey
Environmental Studies

Macalester has its own wind turbine on campus, a 10-kilowatt generator that supplies 0.3 percent of campus electricity consumption, but this is just a whisper of what is coming: Macalester students are driving the clean-energy future.

I am part of the Macalester Conservation and Renewable Energy Society (MacCARES), which confronts global warming and the energy crisis. Sustainability has traditionally been seen as expensive, requiring expertise and exhaustive funding, but we are supporting innovative, cost-effective, clean-energy systems through a collective student effort—the Clean Energy Revolving Fund (CERF).

The fund, for which I wrote the charter, supports cost effective campus sustainability investments in profitable energy solutions. The cost savings repay the fund, making it a powerful engine for student-driven leadership in campus sustainability. The CERF Board (pun intended) consists of two students, a Macalester administrator, a faculty member, a trustee and an alumnus.

Our funding goal for CERF was $100,000—ambitious, yet just enough to initiate projects at Macalester and secure CERF's long-term viability. In a demonstration of student commitment, the student government granted their largest single capital allocation in history, and with another contribution from the Environmental Studies Department, CERF was ready to fly.

Students are developing projects to improve campus efficiency, for example installing efficient washing machines and motion sensors on vending machines that turn the machine lights off when no one is nearby. Through CERF we can build a sustainable future, transforming students into active builders of a new global future while empowering the economy.

I am publicizing the model to community and energy groups across Minnesota and have co-authored a "how to" manual for campuses nationwide, published by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.