2016 Appalachian Energy Summit

The Appalachian Energy Summit, for those who have not heard of it, is an annual event held at Appalachian State University for the past 5 years. The event is organized by Geb Moody and staff from the Appalachian States Office of Sustainability over 3 days to provide a communication forum for North Carolina's 16 system campuses, plus 3 independent Colleges and Universities. They discuss and share information, ideas, and results on how to save money through sustainable practices. Since the inception of this event, the participants have saved over $499,000,000 in energy costs from implementing many innovative sustainable ideas, along with nine billion pounds of Co2e emissions over the past five years. The event is also open to many companies involved in the UNC system planning or execution of these plans, students, and professionals in the sustainability field. In fact, many of these companies donate the money used to hold this event, thus making it a free event that does not affect the budgets of these Universities. The keynote address was given this year by 350. org Bill McKibben, followed by a question and answer session with him and Amory Lovins from the Rocky Mountain Institute. The theme for this year's event was "Knowledge. Collaboration. Action." and several Universities outside of North Carolina attended this year's event. Although all of the ideas discussed at this event are about producing green energy, energy reduction, waste reduction, and reducing environmental impact. The idea that stood out most to me was the importance of spreading the savings from low-cost / high-payback projects or "low-lying fruit" to offset the cost of larger, more expensive projects. The sustainable concept is about a total change of business, lifestyle, energy usage, and environmental impact, adding importance to the diversification of saving to make these changes more appealing to any entity pursuing the sustainable concept. The growth of this event, coupled with the savings to date, is a testament to how effective sustainability can be. Participation in this event was a gratifying experience, and I hope to be a part of many more of them and many more like it. Sharing knowledge in this field is the only way to provide the opportunity to accelerate a change in lifestyle and move toward reversing the effects of climate change.

Simply put, the technology is available. It is time to use it. Thank you, Appalachian State, for your leadership in innovation once more.