UW-Green Bay seeks return to Eco-U

From an article by Sean Ryan in The Daily Reporter:

In an attempt to reclaim some of its 1960s glory as Eco-U, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is going to try heating its buildings with biodiesel.

The college was one of four UW campuses that Gov. Jim Doyle wanted to become energy independent — meaning it doesn’t pull any power from outside utilities — by 2012.

The idea of burning biodiesel rather than natural gas in the boiler that heats the university’s buildings is one part of that broader effort, said John Katers, associate professor of natural and applied sciences at UW-Green Bay. And if it succeeds, the university might get the same kind of attention it received in the 1960s, when Harpers magazine dubbed it Eco-U for the university’s environmental education programs, Katers said.

Katers also serves on the Operations Committee of the Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program.