Energy & Environment

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10 March 2008
Green Groundswell Sweeps U.S. Campuses

By Jeffrey Thomas
Staff Writer

Washington -- The “greening” of U.S. campuses is gaining momentum. Many college and university presidents are committing their institutions to a reduction in their carbon footprint -- the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by human activity over the course of a year.

A new sustainability report card grading the 200 most heavily endowed universities -- schools with endowments ranging from $230 million to $35 billion -- found a “green groundswell” on campuses, with nearly 45 percent making a commitment to fight climate change through cutting carbon emissions.

Almost 500 American college and university presidents have signed pledges to develop a comprehensive plan at their institutions to achieve climate neutrality -- net-zero carbon emissions -- as soon as possible. In the meantime, according to the pledge, they must take two or more tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases while the more comprehensive plans are being developed. One example of such an action is purchasing or producing at least 15 percent of the electricity consumed by their institutions from renewable sources; another is investing the institution’s endowment as much as possible in green companies.

Finally, the pledge requires the institution to make its action plan and progress reports available to the public.

HOW ONE COLLEGE REDUCED ITS CARBON FOOTPRINT

In 2006, the College of the Atlantic (COA) in Bar Harbor, Maine, located near the scenic Acadia National Park, pledged it would become the first carbon net-zero campus. A small college (approximately 325 students) dedicated to ecology, COA made the pledge “because it’s the right thing to do,” said COA President David Hale in an interview. “The primary motivation,” he said, “is to practice what we teach.”

To reduce its carbon emissions -- which play a key role in global warming -- COA conducted a comprehensive energy audit and began extensive work to improve energy efficiency in all its buildings. Incandescent light bulbs were replaced with energy-saving compact fluorescents wherever possible. The college, which offers only one degree, human ecology, promoted alternative commuting methods, such as carpooling and biking, and instituted flexible work plans so more employees could work from home.

COA focused the entire college community on the concept of sustainability -- raising organic food and involving staff and students in such decisions as which furniture to purchase and which trees to remove for its new energy-efficient dorms, heated by wood pellets. The college also created an advisory committee.

Students studied the carbon-offset market intensively, looking for ways to counteract emissions the college could not avoid by investing in programs that limit emissions elsewhere. They selected a project in Portland, Oregon, that optimizes traffic signals and manages traffic flow, thereby reducing the amount of time cars spend idling at traffic lights. This practice of carbon offsets is based on the idea that because there is only one atmosphere, reducing emissions by a ton anywhere reduces emissions to the total atmosphere.

In December 2007, just 15 months after taking on the challenge of reducing its carbon footprint to net zero, COA announced it had fulfilled its pledge -- becoming the first college or university to achieve carbon neutrality.

For its actions, an environmental news Web site (Grist.org) ranked COA the “greenest college in the world.” The nonprofit Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI) also named COA as one of four colleges and universities to receive the institute's first Sustainability Innovator Award.

GRADING COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ON THEIR GREENNESS

For two years in a row, SEI has published a report card grading the most heavily endowed campuses. The latest found that green building standards guide new construction at 59 percent of the 200 schools, and 42 percent are using hybrid or electric vehicles in transportation fleets.

More than one-third of the rated colleges and universities are purchasing renewable energy, and 30 percent are producing their own wind or solar energy. More than two-thirds are buying food from local farms. Biodiesel fuel now is being made and used by almost one-third of schools.

More than two-thirds earned a better report card in 2008 than in 2007. None of these generally large universities got an overall grade of “A,” but six received an “A-”: Harvard University in Massachusetts, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, the University of Washington, Middlebury College in Vermont, Carleton College in Minnesota and the University of Vermont.

These 200 colleges and universities represent more than $343 billion in endowment assets, and the SEI report card regards endowment practices and shareholder engagement as a vital component of sustainability practices. The report found that the percentage of schools with endowment investments in renewable energy funds more than tripled from 9 percent to 31 percent.

More than a third of schools now have full-time campus sustainability administrators.

The College Sustainability Report Card 2008 is available on the Web site of the Sustainable Endowments Institute.

The National Wildlife Federation recently released a study of best practices from U.S. colleges and universities on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on campus. The report is available on its Web site.

Harvard University has adopted a series of campus-wide sustainability principles ranging from increasing efficiency and use of renewable resources to decreasing production of waste and hazardous materials. For details on the green building principles Harvard adopted and the products and technologies used, see the Green Building Resource on the Harvard Web site.

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