The Chronicle of Higher Education December 2, 2011 Colleges Are Part of a $4-Billion Energy-Efficiency Program By Scott Carlson The White House has announced that some college and university buildings will be part of a $4-billion program to improve energy efficiency over the next two years. The program-which is part of the Better Buildings Initiative, an effort to improve building efficiency by 20 percent-will get $2-billion from government agencies through a presidential memorandum, and colleges and universities, cities, private companies, and other entities will collectively contribute the other $2-billion. Allegheny College, Delaware State University, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Michigan State University, the University of California at Irvine, the University of Hawaii-Manoa, and the University of Utah will be part of the program. Allegheny College, for example, will reduce energy consumption by 20 percent in 1.3-million square feet of space by 2020, and the Kentucky technical-college system will meet the same goal in sevem million square feet. Over the coming year, UC-Irvine has committed to cutting energy consumption by nearly 9 percent in seven million square feet of space. A wide variety of other institutions and entities will be part of the program, including companies like GE and Supervalu, the Houston Independent School District, the cities of Denver and the District of Columbia, and the states of Minnesota and Iowa. Officials hope the program will be a major job generator in the construction sector. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.