The Green Standard
Colleges are reducing their carbon footprint and developing technology that’s helping to improve the planet
Nowadays, a university’s reputation isn’t just about test scores, accomplished faculty, and student satisfaction. Concern for the planet — and programs that actually do something to address the climate crisis — have become critical factors too. Just ask Emily May why she chose to attend Middlebury College. “Environmental programs and an environmentally active student body were almost entirely responsible for leading me to apply for early decision,” explains May, a junior at the Vermont school.
In response to mounting concern for the environment, the Princeton Review’s report on the country’s best colleges, a perennial go-to for prospective undergrads, added “greenness” to its list of key 2009 ranking factors. Kaplan Publishing’s 2009 College Guide also has a section devoted to green factors.
“We’ve had the perfect storm: Hurricane Katrina, then Al Gore, then $4 per gallon gasoline,” says Chuck Redman, director of the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. “Saving the environment and sustainability are on everyone’s mind, and I believe these issues are going to be part of what defines universities going forward.”
It’s not only faculty and administrators who think so. “Being green is super important to my generation,” says Ben Wessel, a member of Middlebury College’s class of 2011. “We recognize that the climate crisis is threatening the way we live and the way our society will function in the years to come. We’re making choices to support institutions that recognize the size of this challenge and are making commitments now to work toward a carbon-free future.”
Greening is a financially savvy move too, though colleges aren’t expecting instantaneous results. “We’ve invested $70 million in energy conservation over the last five or six years,” says Jonathan Fink, director of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State. “There’s no immediate return on any of our investments, but looking out five, 10, or 20 years, they will definitely pay off.” Universities can afford to wait. “We’ve been around for a hundred years and plan to be around for hundreds more,” Fink points out. “So we can and should take a long-term view.”
Energy Pledges
One of the most popular green initiatives at universities is a pledge to reduce campus energy use significantly. The College of the Atlantic, in Bar Harbor, Maine, took an aggressive stance, pledging in October 2006 to become carbon neutral immediately. (The school offsets its carbon dioxide emissions through investment in a greenhouse gas reduction project in Oregon.) Middlebury College in Vermont has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2016, and Colorado State University (CSU) has a target date of 2020.
Other schools are making less drastic but still meaningful commitments. Almost 300 institutions of higher learning around the country have signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, which pledges schools — among other goals — to implement comprehensive plans to achieve climate neutrality as soon as possible.
Schools have undertaken a variety of strategies to accomplish emissions reduction goals, including switching to renewable energy sources, employing passive heating and cooling techniques, setting strict regulations on new buildings, and retrofitting existing buildings to make them more efficient. Other conservation practices range from recycling and composting to green purchasing programs.
Clean Energy
Many schools are turning to renewable energy sources. For example, Green Mountain College, in Poultney, Vt., gets a significant portion of its power from Central Vermont Public Service’s “Cow Power” program, which harnesses methane (a contributor to global warming when unharnessed) and other biogases from cow manure from local dairy farms and converts them into usable energy.
In 2006 Oberlin College installed 336 solar panels on the roof of its Adam J. Lewis Center for Environmental Studies, making the facility entirely solar powered. Beginning this December, as part of its carbon-neutrality effort, Middlebury will reduce its fuel oil use by a million gallons a year with a wood chip gasification system. “We’re only working with suppliers that practice sustainable forestry and replant every tree they cut down,” explains Jack Byrne, director of Middlebury’s Sustainability Integration Office. “This is going to reduce our carbon footprint by 40 percent, and take us one bigstep in the carbon-neutral direction.”
Other energy conservation measures include adjusting temperature settings by a degree or two, and using motion sensors to turn off lights and equipment in offices and classrooms that aren’t in use. These steps can save significant energy when implemented on a campuswide basis.
Global Greening
A number of universities are involved in projects that could have an impact beyond their campuses while also fulfilling the desire of many students to do work that will change the world.
“As our president, Larry Edward Penley, has said, we must do much more than change the lightbulbs on campus,” says Aaron Levi, managing director of climate initiatives and carbon assets for Colorado State. “Universities have not only the role but the responsibility to engineer the next generation of lightbulb.”
Initiatives at CSU include the creation of the largest independent engine research laboratory in North America, which has helped to develop everything from distributed power grid systems and clean-burning industrial engines to cook stoves for use in developing regions. The laboratory has launched several clean-energy startup companies, including Envirofit International, a nonprofit corporation that takes a sustainable-business approach to tackling pollution problems. Envirofit’s two-stroke engine retrofit, for example, has allowed motorcycle taxi drivers in the Philippines to reduce carbon emissions while making their vehicles more fuel-efficient. “CSU has been able to move this technology into the market, where it can have a meaningful impact for the rest of the world,” Levi explains.
Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies works with mayors and other government leaders in China to train them in environmentally sound practices in urban planning, industrial ecology, and measuring and managing the environmental impact of growth and development.
Arizona State University (ASU) is working a little closer to home. Dr. Jay Golden, director of the National Center of Excellence on SMART Innovations at ASU, is leading a team of researchers from institutions including the University of Arkansas, Duke, Michigan, Harvard, and numerous Fortune 500 companies to develop a unified sustainability index for consumer products both domestically and globally. ASU is also working with BP Solar on a research program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to improve solar energy technology.
Colleges and universities can play a powerful role in the development of global green strategies because they’re seen as objective, honest brokers, Fink says. “Companies that do research might be seen as having a vested interest in a particular outcome that shows one product or process to be better than another.” These academic projects are important learning tools too. “By engaging in relevant policy research, we expose our students to real-world applications,” Fink adds, “which in turn helps them prepare for dealing with the kinds of issues that matter to the companies many of them will eventually be working for.”
Green Building, Green Living
Schools striving to be green are making huge efforts to earn LEED certification when they construct new buildings and renovate existing structures. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an initiative of the United States Green Building Council. There are different levels of LEED certification, but all LEED buildings must incorporate such goals as energy efficiency, water conservation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of waste sent to landfills.
Harvard University, which has stringent green-building codes for all new construction and renovations, has 13 LEED-certified buildings on its campus, including one of only four buildings in Massachusetts with LEED “platinum” certification. The school doesn’t make these efforts just for the label; these changes save serious cash in the long run. “None of our green projects are funded because we think we should do them,” says Nathan Gauthier, assistant director of the Harvard Office for Sustainability (HOS). “It’s always based in a sound business practice.”
In addition to sweeping, infrastructure-changing programs, colleges are implementing practices that make day-to-day life greener. They include organic food initiatives and composting programs in the dining halls; car-sharing programs, free-bike programs, and public transportation incentives; and organic gardening programs. There are even degrees in sustainability and green study-abroad programs.
All the above, says Gauthier, creates a better environment for human health. The HOS points to research that shows greening a campus leads to “students and faculty that are healthier and more productive,” which, aside from saving the planet, is the most any school could want.
— Christie Matheson
