The University of Oregon’s Board of Trustees has set aside $15 million in student building fees in hopes of eventually replacing a natural gas boiler with an electric one.
UO’s methane boilers are the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in Eugene, according to Board of Trustee documents. Monday’s vote comes after nearly a decade of students, staff and community members urging the university to decarbonize its heating system.
The decision means the university can use student building fee debt capacity to get a loan for the project.
During Monday’s meeting, Board of Trustees Chair Steve Holwerda said the fees won’t cover the entire cost of replacing a boiler.
"Really this is not a down payment, really look at this as a savings account,” Holwerda said. “If you think about buying a house, you make a down payment because you can afford the property taxes, the insurance, the maintenance and so on. That’s why I say this is a savings [account] because we really don’t have the funds right now.”
UO has been studying how to reduce its emission for years, publishing a Thermal Heating Systems Transition report in 2022 as a part of its climate action plan. It explored a few different options to replace the boilers that could reduce emissions by 30 to 80%.
Jack Dodson, a UO senior and Climate Justice League member, said Eugene can’t meet its climate goals without the University of Oregon doing its part.
“Everyone knows that UO has an outsized impact on the community in a bunch of different ways and I think it's important to very specifically say that climate heating emissions are one of those ways,” Dodson said.
Dodson said student government members spent the school year working to dedicate their building fees toward the project. He said he’s hoping Monday’s decision will be the spark UO needs to start gathering the rest of the funding by making a boiler a fundraising goal, seeking grants, and lobbying for state resources.
"Today's vote shows that work, and that pressure from the students, from the community, does have a real impact,” Dodson said. “But it also shows that we have a long way to go."
A university spokesperson said the project does not have a timeline, and other funding has not been approved.
The total cost of the boiler will likely be between $21.5 and $25.5 million. If UO doesn’t complete the project in 10 years, the debt capacity the trustees approved Monday will return to student government to be available for other building projects.
