Students Vote For Wind Power

At the University of Colorado, the Student Union, Health Center, and Recreation Center will be running on wind power thanks to the largest student voter turnout in their history. Students voted by a 5 to 1 margin to increase student fees by $1 per semester for 4 years to purchase wind power from Public Service Company of Colorado’s Ponnequin wind farm. The increase in fees will raise $50,000 a year, enough to purchase the entire output of one wind turbine.

Using a model for other universities to follow, the student group Clean Energy Now! and the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies ran a week long campaign providing information about wind power and distributing colorful pinwheels. The central campus lawn was covered with the pinwheels, a “CU wind farm.”