In 2003, Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS) initiated and promoted a semester fee of $2.00 per student with the intent of reducing the environmental impact of University operations. In order to initiate such a fee, SECS had to collect signatures from seven percent of the student body (~3,000 signatures) for the issue to go to student referendum. They reached this goal, and the student body approved the $2.00 per semester Cleaner Energy Technologies Fee to improve energy efficiency and implement renewable energy on campus.

The intent of the fee is to "provide pollution-free renewable energy as a portion of the campus energy portfolio and reduce campus energy consumption." The impetus for establishing the fee was to build a wind farm for the U of I campus and ultimately expand the campus’ renewable energy portfolio. The types of projects to be considered with the fee include wind power, solar energy, and other renewable sources such as hydrogen, biomass, and geothermal systems. A portion of the funds may be used for campus energy efficiency projects such as energy audits of campus building systems.