Michael Black, M.B.A., senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, is leading the Green Initiative Task Force.
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Although the UT Health Science Center San Antonio has had initiatives in place to improve energy efficiency and promote recycling for some time, a new campuswide Green Initiative Task Force was recently formed to find new and better ways to help the campus “go green” in a more visible way.

The task force, led by Michael Black, M.B.A., senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, held its first meeting in August and includes faculty and staff members, students and an outside green building construction expert.

Related links:
•	Who is serving on the Green Initiative Task Force?
•	Coming soon: More about current "green" efforts on campus and progress on pending initiatives

“This whole recent effort was initiated by the students,” Black said. “They have a lot of energy and great ideas about the green initiative. They needed someone from administration to champion the cause and help institute the initiatives they are identifying.”

Chris Gibson, a second-year medical student, was one of several students who asked the university to appoint the task force. He is now serving as one of several student representatives.

The recent effort began with a group of then-first-year medical students — Chris Gibson, Kyle Kalkwarf and Bernard Lynch — who conducted a survey in the fall of 2007 about the campus’ interest in energy efficiency and renewable resources. “The results were overwhelmingly in support of instituting more energy-efficient initiatives on campus," Gibson said.

With the help of then-Student Government Association (SGA) Sens. Neal Jackson and Laura Probst and then-SGA President Maheshika Ratnayake, the SGA endorsed a request that the administration appoint a committee to investigate ways to improve energy efficiency and other “green” initiatives on campus.

“I think the response has been fantastic,” Gibson said. “A lot of the credit for making things happen should go to Mr. Black. I think with his position here at the university, he has been able to get things done that we as students would not have been able to do. We also appreciate Dr. Cigarroa giving this his full support.”

Health Science Center contributing to UT System green initiative
On another front, the Health Science Center appears to be a leader in this effort among UT System schools, Gibson said. “Kyle is serving on the UT System Student Advisory Council and has been discussing green initiatives with other UT student leaders. Even though other universities have been working on this for longer than we have, it looks like we are ahead of many of them in terms of progress. Kyle will present our initiatives to the advisory council at an upcoming meeting, and a student-led proposal for a systemwide green initiative could go to the Board of Regents in the spring,” Gibson said.

Initiatives under consideration
Among the many proposals being considered at the UT Health Science Center are:

• Incorporating energy efficient designs into the soon-to-be-completed Medical Arts and Research Center and adopting many of the U.S. Green Building Council’s requirements as best practices in constructing the South Texas Research Facility.
  
• Improving and expanding the current recycling program for office paper, newspapers, plastic bottles and aluminum cans throughout the university
  
• Encouraging the electronic distribution of course syllabi and double-sided printing to avoid wasting paper, with the Print Shop being asked to begin charging double for single-sided printing.
  
• Instituting an Energy Conservation Committee to examine ways to decrease energy use on campus. A number of initiatives being investigated include decreasing energy usage by regulating temperature controls, automatically programming computers to go into “sleep mode” when not in use and automatically shutting off lights in large meeting rooms. The committee is also looking at alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.
  
• Replacing police cruisers and other university vehicles with more energy-efficient vehicles or hybrids where appropriate.
  
• Conducting a pilot project to replace energy-inefficient freezers in research areas with more efficient models.

If you have suggestions for the committee to consider, please contact Christine Fuhler, (210) 567-7105.