UW-Madison staff members responded to Wisconsin Student Interest Research Group's 'Big Red Go Green' campaign with a message of realism over idealism at a Tuesday night panel discussion. The panel, which was preceded by a video about the applications of solar power, set the tone for the discussion.
Richard Shaten, faculty associate in the department of Environmental Studies said he thinks applications of solar energy might not be the best direction for the future of campus.
'One of the problems that we face here in Wisconsin is that we fall somewhere in the bottom five for the states in the country for capacity for solar,' he said. '[But] that doesn't mean that solar energy doesn't have a place in Wisconsin.'
Shaten said he acknowledged that solar power has limited uses in Madison.
'In many ways solar energy on our campus is more a statement than it is an actual functional generation of power,' he said.
Faramarz Vakili, associate director of the UW-Madison Physical Plant, agrees that the future of energy for UW-Madison is not a shift to green energy, but conservation methods. However the larger problem, according to Vakili, is that students need to stop seeing themselves as working against the university.
UW-Madison junior Casey Dickinson, coordinator of the Big Red Go Green campaign, said unity is important.
'I think what we try to do as an organization, what we're trying to do this semester, is less to fight against the people who are going to help us in the end ?? and more to work with them.' But, he added, 'It shouldn't be just the administrators that are sitting down and having the talks. ?? I think there should be more engagement with the students.'
But Vakili believes an open dialogue is not always viable, as youthful idealism can often be impractical.
'Idealistic ideas are only going to interfere with our mission, they're going to interfere with our progress toward finding an efficient way of operation,' he said. 'The only way we're going to succeed is to be on the same team.'
