The University's Climate Action Plan - Penn's long-range plan to reduce its carbon footprint - has been met with vocal praise since it was unveiled two weeks ago, but, like everything, there's always room for improvement.
On Sunday, the Undergraduate Assembly discussed and voted on its Climate Action Plan resolution, which is the UA's official response to the University's plan, which was unveiled Sept. 15.
Engineering senior and UA member Dan Sanchez, who proposed the resolution, explained at the UA's third general body meeting of the semester that generally, the Climate Action Plan has been met with a fairly positive response. In the resolution, the UA commends the plan, but offers a few recommendations to administrators.
The resolution contains eight enactment clauses. One of the clauses calls upon the University to set a date at which it will be "carbon neutral" - the point at which the school no longer has net greenhouse gas emissions. Cornell University and the College of the Holy Cross have already pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050 and 2040 respectively.
The resolution also recommends that the University investigate alternative demand-side reduction mechanisms, such as incentivizing environmentally friendly behavior in college houses by lowering rent for students who use less energy.
However, such measures would only be possible if the University improved metering of energy use in buildings, which would require extensive renovations.
The final two enactment clauses of the resolution urge the University to continually update and strengthen the Climate Action Plan and recommends that the University collaborate with the UA and other student groups while it continues to implement the plan.
The resolution was passed unanimously.
Several other controversial issues were brought up in open forum at the beginning of the meeting.
UA chairman and College junior Alec Webley raised a concern from within the UA itself. The meeting packet for Sunday was sent out to the body at about 11 p.m. on Saturday night and later than usual the previous week.
If meeting packets are sent out this late, some members said, meetings may run longer than necessary and discussions may be less substantial.
Webley apologized on behalf of himself and the executive board for the timing of the meeting packets and added that the board will make it a priority to send out the meeting packets on Fridays.
Once again, the issue of the new sustainable showerheads' water pressure was brought up. College senior and UA member Claire Choi said some students feel that the water pressure is not significant enough for them to fully cleanse themselves. Students have wondered, she said, if there is a way to increase pressure while still keeping the showerheads sustainable.
Sanchez said he would bring the issue up with Facilities and Real Estate Services and would be thrilled if the UA could help solve the issue and "make every student in the high rises happy."
