4. Community Engagement
We have outlined several community engagement strategies to gain UNL’s full support and buy-in for the TU Bright proposal. The first capitalizes on UNL’s sustainability goals, as outlined in the Environment, Sustainability, and Resilience Master Plan [26]. The primary goal of UNL is to create a sustainability-centric culture. In regard to energy, their mission is to “establish the policy, governance and administrative infrastructure that results in a highly-efficient campus with net-zero CO2 emissions and net zero energy readiness by 2050.” To display their commitment to this goal, a solar flower and energy savings monitor will be placed near Love Library, at the heart of UNL’s campus. An example of a solar flower can be seen below in Figure 10.
The energy savings monitor will display the current output, total yield, and CO2 avoidance. More information can be found in 5.A. under “Compliance with Master Plan.” These large displays will visibly prove UNL’s dedication to a more sustainable and resilient community. In doing so, we will also achieve buy-in from the Chancellor’s Environment, Sustainability and Resilience Commission (CESRC), a diverse group tasked with promoting “the environmental, social, and economic well-being of UNL. The solar flower and monitor will take this group one step closer to their goals outlined in their Master Plan.
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Our next community engagement strategy references the iconic UNL phrase: “Go Big Red.” One of the most important aspects of UNL’s culture is their school and football team spirit. The phrase GBR is seen around campus and well-known by everyone in the UNL community: students, staff, faculty, and fans. We modified the phrase for our campaign to reflect their sustainability goals: “Go Big Green.” See Figure 11 below for a comparison of the current GBR logo and our updated GBG design.
With an extremely expensive photovoltaic project, it is important that the entire university is aware and supportive of the plan. This phrase, GBG, will engage the UNL community and capitalize on their school spirit mentality. We will provide t-shirts with the “Go Big Green” and create social media challenges with the hashtags #GBG and #GoBigGreen in which students will pose with the new solar flower and show off their additional sustainability efforts, such as using a reusable water bottle. There will be a winner for the most innovative submission.
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Additionally, we plan to implement community liaisons who will be responsible for receiving and implementing useful feedback from the UNL community and the surrounding areas. They will be able to answer questions, address complaints and concerns, and provide the opportunity for the community’s voices to be heard.
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Our community engagement plan will achieve buy-in and unparalleled support for the TU Bright plan. Although our plan is not the most financially responsible decision, the benefits for the planet are unmatched. And that alone will be enough to convince UNL to invest in our solar energy system.