Ithaca College
IN-25: Innovation B

The Student Housing Energy Reduction Program (SHERP)(formerly SHORE) is a partnership between IC's Office of Energy Management & Sustainability and the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County. Together, resources were developed to help students living off-campus navigate the lease process, the student-landlord relationship, finding an apartment/house, and how to save water, energy, and resources. The Eco Reps are responsible for leading monthly lectures and discussions that focus on different themes within off-campus housing, including: - Picking and living with roommates - Picking a place (red flags to avoid, tenant rights, etc.) - Heat and fossil fuels - "Stuff" (linear production, product lifecycles, etc.) - Saving energy in summer - Summer sublets - General climate change The goal of this program is to improve the relationship between our South Hill neighbors and off-campus students and to decrease GHG emissions and water use in housing that is not owned by the College. Students have also improved their knowledge of how to live on their own, including how to read energy bills and adjust use to save money, red flags to look for in rental units, and basic tenant rights. Concurrently, students living in the on-campus Circle Apartments are receiving mock energy bills to illustrate the amount of electricity and gas they use each month. Students receive a "bill" with the total amount of money it would cost, should they be responsible for utility costs, and the carbon emissions associated with their use.

The SHERP program has been an evolutionary process for many years. It wasn't until 2017 that OEMS took ownership and responsibility for training, educating, and supporting the SHERP program.