On Friday, Nov. 6, 5C Environmental Justice (5CEJ) held a campaign pitch at The Motley Coffeehouse to discuss its newest initiative, Electri5Cs, which aims to replace the current natural gas building heating systems with electrical units at the 5Cs.
Electri5Cs follows 5CEJ’s successful Claremont Off Fossil Fuels campaign last semester, which resulted in all 5Cs and Claremont Graduate University agreeing to transition to 100% renewable electricity.
The pitch highlighted how Electri5Cs aligns with Pomona College’s stated climate goals and the California Climate Commitment. Campaign leaders also discussed the first building they are pushing administrators to renovate with renewable electricity: Pomona’s Pendleton building, which houses the mail room and offices including human resources.
“[Pendleton] is a good candidate for multiple reasons and one is that the heating in that building is already incredibly energy- and cost-inefficient because it’s split into two systems for one building,” Miranda Elder PO ’29, Electri5Cs co-leader, said.
Elder explained that Pomona was already planning to renovate Pendleton. The planned construction includes merging the separate heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, according to Alexis Reyes, Pomona’s director of sustainability and energy management.
In a statement to TSL, Reyes said that Pendleton has enough room behind it for new electrical equipment and does not require hot water for showers or commercial cooking, making it an ideal building for the electrification pilot.
Reyes also noted that the college worked with its HVAC contractor Western Allied to identify Pendleton as the first building to undergo the transition to electric systems. 5CEJ met with the Sustainability Office and HVAC team this fall to discuss the renovation.
“Before launching Electri[5]Cs, members of 5CEJ met with the Sustainability Office and our HVAC team to learn about electrification and the details of the Pendleton project,” Reyes said. “If we move forward with the project, our energy and HVAC teams will track its energy savings and how the equipment performs. That will help us decide whether and where to electrify other buildings on campus.”
Alongside the presentation, Friday’s event included discussion questions and an opportunity for attendees to sign a pledge to show student support for the project. Students also distributed buttons with the campaign’s logo and QR codes directed to the pledge.
Electri5Cs co-leader Sabina Funasaki PO ’28 said the pledge differs from the petition 5CEJ created last semester to support its “Off Fossil Fuels” campaign since the group is now in closer contact with college representatives.
Although Electri5Cs aims to expand building electrification across all five colleges, the campaign is starting at Pomona, building on 5CEJ’s existing relationship with the college’s Sustainability Office, which supported its previous renewable electricity campaign.
“[With] Electri5Cs, we’re calling it a pledge, because we want to show students will support electrification; and there’s no pushback as of now [from Pomona] Facilities,” Funasaki said. “If it ever escalates, then we could escalate it more into potentially a petition. Right now, we want to make connections with Facilities, meet with them, hear what they have to say and we can work together and show that students will support what they are working on.”
Reyes said that the Claremont Colleges will start buying 100% renewable electricity this January, noting that “the commitment covers every building on the consortium’s shared grid, including Pendleton.”
Ronan Kiernan-Johnson SC ’29, who attended the event, said she enjoyed learning about Electri5Cs goals and thought the other attendees cared a lot about the cause too. She noted that student leaders emphasized how “their work is not done.”
“While making the buttons [there was] dialogue about what the campaign is, and what the goals of it are [and making] sure everyone understood what the point of the campaign was,” Kiernan-Johnson said. “It was very clear everyone there really cared about the environment and was interested to learn about [Electri5Cs].”