Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.25
Liaison Laura Bain
Submission Date Jan. 26, 2015
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Furman University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution advocate for national, state/provincial, or local public policies that support campus sustainability or that otherwise advance sustainability?:
Yes

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:

Furman staff and administrators, including the Associate Vice President for Facilities Services, University Energy Manager, Shi Center for Sustainability Associate Director, Co-Chair of the Sustainability Planning Council, and Director of Community Relations, have been in multi-year conversations quietly urging for comprehensive legislation that would make development of solar power generation more widely accessible and at a higher cap than the long-standing 100kW limit at any one connection point to the grid. Administrators communicated through varied means with members of the Statehouse, solar investors, non-profit advocacy organizations, the press, and the general public on this topic. Furman was held up as an organization whose efforts at environmental sustainability were being limited by the previous regulations. The result of a broad consensus in the state legislature and of concerned stakeholders, the resulting legislation Act 236, or the Distributed Energy Resource Program Act of 2014, was signed into law in Summer 2014.


A brief description of other political positions the institution has taken during the previous three years:
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A brief description of political donations the institution made during the previous three years (if applicable):
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The website URL where information about the institution’s advocacy efforts is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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