Going green
Richmond steps up efforts to protect the environment

BY MELANIE MAYHEW, '05

As colleges and universities lead the national movement to "go green," Richmond's students, faculty, staff and alumni are making environmental protection a high priority.

"The University of Richmond, so remarkable for its beautiful physical setting, has worked hard to be a responsible steward," says President Edward Ayers. "We will continue to look for ways to innovate and to adapt the best strategies others devise."

For many years, Richmond has recycled everything from paper and plastic to tires and cooking oil. More recently, the University has expanded its environmental efforts to touch nearly every aspect of campus life.

Green buildings

Richmond demonstrated a growing commitment to the environment in 2004, when it opened Weinstein Hall, a social sciences building that became the second LEED-certified structure among all Virginia colleges and universities. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a set of nationally recognized standards for the design, construction and operation of green buildings.

University Architect Andrew McBride has registered four additional projects with the U.S. Green Building Council, including the Heilman Center, Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness, Lakeview Residence Hall and Freeman Hall. The University also will seek LEED certification for other projects in the planning stages, he says.

Green construction costs more, but it will help the University attract students who are environmentally conscious, says Richard Harrison, B'84. Harrison, and his wife, Susan, recently donated $500,000 to the Robins School of Business to help the University follow U.S. Green Building Council standards on the 33,000-square-foot expansion of the Robins School. The Harrisons funded their donation with gains from investments in green technologies.

Green garbage

Although there is no government mandate to recycle in Virginia, Richmond has made it a priority, says John Hoogakker, associate vice president for facilities. In addition to common recyclables-such as paper, plastic and aluminum-the University recycles cinderblocks, tires, batteries, carpet, electronic equipment and cooking oil.

Last year, UR recycled nearly 1.1 million pounds of material, says Al Lane, manager of custodial and environmental services.

At the end of each school year, campus chapters of the Sierra Club and Habitat for Humanity collect and resell discarded or donated student property. The project generates thousands of dollars for their organizations and keeps the items out of landfills.

In October, Richmond partnered with Hollins University, Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech to collect electronic waste and send it to a recycling plant in Massachusetts. Richmond alone collected an estimated 250,000 pounds of e-waste in three days by inviting the community to bring items to campus.

Green scholarship

The University started its environmental studies program in 2000, and more students are showing interest in the new major each year, says Dr. Chris Stevenson, associate professor of chemistry and coordinator of the program.

Dr. Ellis M. West, professor of political science and one of the program's founders, is encouraged by the program's growth, but he wants the University to do a better job of practicing what it preaches. He recommends hiring an administrator to champion sustainability with the same zeal that Dr. Uliana Gabara has brought to international education during the past 20 years.

The reason international education has succeeded, he says, "is that the University—from the very highest level on down—made a very clear and strong commitment to promoting it."

The University took a step in that direction in 2003, when former President Bill Cooper signed the Talloires Declaration. The 10-point agreement obliges its signatories to promote environmental sustainability by example and by educating others.

In November, Ayers signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which commits the University to develop a comprehensive plan to reach climate neutrality and practice greenhouse gas-reducing behaviors.

Previously, the University had approved a master plan that created a University-wide environmental awareness group that monitors and reports on progress toward sustainability.

Green grub

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality recently certified Richmond's campus dining facilities as a Virginia Green Restaurant. To earn certification, the dining services team recycles glass bottles, minimizes disposable products, eliminates Styrofoam-based containers for take-out and leftover food, recycles cooking oil and conserves water.

Elsewhere on campus, sustainability efforts include switching to smaller utility service trucks, using alternative fuel for vehicles and installing energy-efficient washers and dryers in residence halls.

In September, the University added a $6.5 million baghouse to the coal-fired steam plant that supplies heating, cooling and hot water to buildings on campus. The baghouse employs hundreds of vacuum bags that clean the smoke generated from burning coal. They reduce the plant's particulate emissions by 98 percent.

Student Jason Levinn, '08, applauds that improvement, but he notes the plant's inability to filter carbon dioxide.

Levinn founded Richmond Environmental Network for Economic Willpower (RENEW) in fall 2006, a few months after viewing Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

"It opened my eyes to global warming and climate change, not only to the problems, but also to the solutions," says Levinn, of Gladstone, N.J.

Green leadership

Faculty members—particularly in environmental studies—are adding their voices to RENEW and other student organizations that are calling for greater sustainability.

"We need to commit to how we're going to reduce our CO2 emissions," says West, who suggests building bike paths and promoting carpools for starters.

The University has a real opportunity to make a name for itself in the green-campus movement, agrees Dr. Mary Finley-Brook, assistant professor of geography. "We're training future leaders, so in helping the University become greener, we're giving students the tools they need" to save the planet.