Goals
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CENIC, or Collegiate with the Environment Naturally In Check, was founded in 2006 by sophomores at the Collegiate School in New York City. The organization focuses on three areas of interest: reducing the school’s environmental footprint, spreading awareness of environmental problems and solutions, and taking part in the wider, global environmental movement through fundraising and petitioning. <ref>cenic.collegiateschool.org</ref>



Accomplishments
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In School: At the beginning of 2006, Collegiate was an incredibly wasteful institution. But through collaboration with various departments, CENIC has set Collegiate on the path to becoming a greener place. On February 14th, 2008, Collegiate signed on with Juice-inc. to purchase 100% of its electricity from wind power, preventing the emission of 385 tons of greenhouse gases. Additionally, we have installed three solar-powered flag-lights in the front of the school that use stored solar energy to illuminate the flags at night, and have replaced the most-used urinal in the school with a waterless urinal that saves 28,000 gallons of water each year, as well huge amounts of electricity (by reducing the amount of water needed to be treated in sanitization plants). We have also expanded the recycling program, increasing bottle and can recycling in the school. Additionally we have installed a foot-candle sensor in a test room that turns off half of the room’s lighting when there is ample natural sunlight. Working with the technology department, we campaigned for 100% recycled copy paper and got it, and supported the decision to upgrade our printers to automatically print double sided. We also established a year-round ink-cartridge and cell-phone battery recycling drive that to date has prevented hundreds of toxic items from making their way to a landfill. Finally, working with the cafeteria we have switched to 100% recycled napkins, and are considering ways to reduce food waste.<ref>cenic.collegiateschool.org</ref>

Awareness: Another one of CENIC’s primary goals is to spread awareness to the Collegiate community on the current environmental issues and problems, as well as the solutions. Through the CENIC Newsletters we keep the Collegiate community informed on environment-related news, and with our CENIC Tips published in the Collegiate Journal, we provide information on how families and individuals can reduce their environmental footprint. Additionally, through film screenings, like last year’s very well attended screening of An Inconvenient Truth, we educate the student body on the scientific realities and the consequences of inaction. CENIC also sponsored The 2008 McLean Lecture on U.S energy policy. Finally, we reach out to the school’s other divisions by speaking at assemblies, coordinating projects like a lower school-wide windmill-making activity, and making presentations to first graders on the importance of recycling.<ref>cenic.collegiateschool.org</ref>

Out of School: Needless to say, environmental activism extends far beyond the Collegiate community. CENIC has broadened its reach in several ways. On an interschool level, in early 2007 we initiated and organized an interschool coalition of the environmental clubs at various other New York schools, meeting every two months to discuss paths of action. The simple existence of the coalition allows each school to build off the other’s successes, and to pressure school administrations to follow another’s lead. On a local level, we met with Environmental Defense General Council Jim Tripp to construct a petition to Mayor Bloomberg and the Taxi and Limousine Commission asking for stricter emission standards for the city’s 13,000 taxis, and NY municipal vehicles. The New York taxi fleet as of 2006 was responsible for the emission of 580,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of what 500,000 acres of pine forests would store in carbon for a year. Sending in a total of 1,600 signatures, we believe we influenced the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s recent decision to increase fuel efficiency standards for taxis. On an international level, we have protected 15 acres of East Africa’s Rift Valley Rainforest from deforestation through the Nature Conservancy after various fundraising events, and have offset 18.3 metric tons (40,413 pounds) of carbon dioxide through Terrapass after our wheatgrass/bakesale during CENIC Week 2008. CENC also takes field trips to rallies and environmental seminars.<ref>cenic.collegiateschool.org</ref>



100% Windpower
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The Collegiate School in New York City has partnered with Juice Energy, Inc., to decisively reduce its carbon footprint. Beginning in mid-February, the school will be purchasing green power equal to its total usage of 639,000 kilowatt hours annually. This “green” power takes the form of Green-e certified renewable energy credits supplied by wind farms in the western United States.

As one of many initiatives of Collegiate’s CENIC (Collegiate with the Environment Naturally In Check) student-led environmental group, this action will prevent 385 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere, equivalent to taking more than 51 average American homes off of the electric grid for a year, every year. Collegiate is working with Juice Energy, a new kind of electricity supplier based in New York City. Juice supplies universities, schools and businesses cost-effective management of volatile electricity prices and climate change solutions.

“Designing customized financial and green power solutions for schools and universities is an important part of the work we do,” says Deirdre Lord, co-founder and COO of Juice. “Companies come to us because our value proposition is different from anything else that is available in the electricity marketplace. Our business model is based on complete transparency. As a result of superior rate structures and market access, we can drive electricity costs down, freeing up funding to purchase green power.”

Ms. Lord states, “We are especially thrilled to be working with Collegiate, and to add them to our list of school and university clients. It is particularly exciting that CENIC (Collegiate with the Environment Naturally in Check), the student environmental organization, inspired the school to work with Juice. CENIC determined that it was time to do something ‘big’ for the environment and worked hard to make buying green power an integral part of Collegiate’s environmental strategy.”

“Juice helped us to understand the complexities of electricity and green power markets. They provide a completely innovative approach to buying traditional and green energy,” says Mark Gordon, Plant Director at Collegiate. “They’ve shared with us exactly what our costs will be, while educating us on all the green options available to us. Juice is also helping us educate our community about the decisions we’ve made.”

CENIC has introduced and supported a number of other significant changes, including expansion of the glass, metal, and plastic recycling program, a successful lobbying effort to switch to 100% recycled copying paper, and establishment of a new recycling program for toxic ink cartridges, batteries, and cell phones. With the help of Plant Director Gordon, the group and school have installed solar-powered outdoor lights and rethought water usage.

The group has reached out to peer schools, organizing a coalition of environmental clubs from six other schools that meets regularly. Collegiate is proud of the initiative, persistence, and organizational foresight of these young men and will continue working toward the goal: 100% green.<ref>http://www.juice-inc.com/Press_Collegiates_Proud_Orange_and_Blue_Joined_By_Green.html</ref>



About Juice Energy, Inc.
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Juice is a revolutionary energy company working solely on behalf of their clients. Operating in deregulated markets, Juice tailors rate structures and products to improve clients’ financial performance and carbon footprint. Juice brings energy portfolio management, transparency and new accountability measures, for the highest return at the lowest cost. www.aboutjuice.com<ref>http://www.juice-inc.com/Press_Collegiates_Proud_Orange_and_Blue_Joined_By_Green.html</ref>



About Collegiate School
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Collegiate is the oldest independent school in the United States. It is a K-12 school for boys and young men, located in the heart of New York City’s Upper West Side.<ref>http://www.juice-inc.com/Press_Collegiates_Proud_Orange_and_Blue_Joined_By_Green.html</ref>