Sustainability a Year-Round Priority for University

Earth Day may come around once a year, but the VCU Office of Sustainability works to keep the university green and Earth-friendly year-round.

VCU celebrated Earth Day this week with celebrations on both campuses. Read about it here.

“Over the past three years, VCU has energetically pursued a comprehensive sustainability strategy that has included the drafting of the VCU Climate Action plan, engaged perseverance by the 60-member VCU Sustainability Committee and the planning and implementation of a myriad of sustainability initiatives,” said Jacek Ghosh, VCU director of sustainability.

Those efforts are paying off. This week, VCU was named one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the United States and Canada, according to The Princeton Review, which included the university in its 2011 “Guide to 311 Green Colleges."

It’s a well-earned recognition that acknowledges the combined sustainability efforts of VCU’s students, faculty and staff, Ghosh said.

VCU does more than merely pay lip service to sustainability, said Rachel Elves, a member of the leadership team for the student organization Green Unity for the MCV Campus.

“A lot of universities have signed the [American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment], but not a lot of people have followed through on it. Not the way VCU has,” she said, citing university initiatives such as the Bayscape Garden, the Big Belly solar-powered trash compactors and the rain garden at Hibbs Hall.

Following are a sample of what the university has been working on to make its campuses more green.

BUILDING ENERGY DASHBOARDS
The Energy Dashboard website gives viewers a real-time look at energy consumption in the buildings that are the heaviest users of electricity. Besides showing how the university uses energy, it details what VCU is doing to reduce energy consumption.

LEED CERTIFICATIONS
In February, VCU’s Institute for Engineering and Medicine became the latest VCU structure to earn LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. VCU’s Walter L. Rice Education Building at the VCU Rice Center was the first building in Virginia to be awarded LEED Platinum certification, the highest sustainability rating possible. The Cary Street Gym recently earned LEED Gold certification. The School of Dentistry’s Perkinson Building, the Larrick Student Center and the Molecular Medicine Research Building all have earned LEED Silver certification. Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) certification is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The LEED Green Building Rating System promotes sustainable building design and construction practices that increase profitability while protecting resources and improving occupant health and well-being.

VCU GREEN MEDALLION PROGRAM
One person can make a difference. A major component in reaching the university’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 is to effect permanent change in individual behavior across the university community. The VCU Goes Green Medallion recognizes individuals who exemplify the best sustainable practices.

PEPSI DREAM MACHINE
This month, the MCV Campus installed a Pepsi Dream Machine in Sanger Hall. Dream Machine recycling kiosks and bins provide convenient access to recycling receptacles. In addition to being kind to the environment, the more bottles and cans people recycle in a Dream Machine, the more support PepsiCo will provide to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities. The intelligent kiosks are computerized receptacles that include a personal reward system that allows consumers to earn points for every bottle and can they recycle, redeemable for local discounts and coupons on entertainment, dining and travel at greenopolis.com.

SOLAR PANELS
The MCV Campus Steam Plant provides steam for heating and sterilization for much of the MCV Campus. It also features a 6.6-kilowatt solar panel array that helps VCU offset about 7,000 metric tons of carbon gases each year. New solar panels are being installed in the West Broad Street Parking Deck on the Monroe Park Campus and the N Deck on the MCV Campus. Each building will have 750 panels.

SUSTAINABILITY PLEDGE
The VCU Sustainability Committee offers a Sustainability Pledge on its website for the entire university. Members of the VCU community can become a part of the university-wide effort to create a more sustainable, less wasteful campus. Only through individual efforts can change of this magnitude be possible. Approximately 750 people have already taken the pledge, making VCU well on its way to becoming a more sustainable university. VCU community members can take the pledge at http://www.vcugoesgreen.vcu.edu/takeaction/pledge/index.aspx.

MOBILITY HUB
With gas prices once again on the rise, reducing gasoline consumption has taken on a new urgency. With Zimride, faculty and staff can now share rides to work. Thanks to the university’s four Zipcars, students and other members of the campus community don’t have to own a car in order to run errands or take a trip to the mall. Mobility hubs are being established on both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses for buses, Zipcars, bicycle racks and power stations for Segways. VCU also continues to provide students with free GRTC bus passes.

RAIN GARDEN AND VEGETATED ROOF
The university has designed and funded a rain garden at Grace E. Harris Hall and a vegetated roof at the Pollak Building, as well as developed plans for zero-stormwater discharge at the Trani Center for Life Sciences.

OFF-CAMPUS RECYCLING
Recycling just got even easier. This semester, VCU opened a recycling station for students and staff who live off campus and don’t have access to curbside recycling in their homes. The station, behind the 500 Academic Centre, offers easy drive-up access and receptacles for paper and plastics.

Visit VCU Goes Green for tips about conservation and more information about VCU’s sustainability efforts.