Campus Sustainability Leader designation, energy reduction competition highlight Environmental Awareness Week activities
October 30, 2009
University of Richmond’s selection as one of only 80 college and university Campus Sustainability Leaders has added momentum to its Oct. 26-30 Environmental Awareness Week activities.
The College Sustainability Report Card, an annual project of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, gave Richmond an overall grade of “B” while rating its administration, food and recycling, green building, and transportation operations an “A.” The university’s overall grade has improved each of the past several years.
Richmond was the only Virginia college to receive an “A” for its green building program, which requires that all construction on campus be designed to earn LEED certification, a set of environmental standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. Weinstein Hall is LEED-certified, and officials will apply for certification of Heilman Dining Center, Lakeview Residence Hall and Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness.
The university’s Dining Services spends 22 percent of the annual food budget on local items and purchases exclusively hormone- and antibiotic-free dairy products. Dining facilities use a pulper to reduce solid waste and use batch cooking methods to reduce food waste. Aluminum, glass, paper, plastic and grease are all recycled.
Green transportation practices include preferred parking spots for carpoolers, and all members of the campus community can receive a free public transportation pass. The university also operates a bicycle-sharing program and provides free bicycle repairs.
Richmond continues work on a long-term climate action plan to make the campus climate-neutral, part of its pledge as a signatory of the Presidents’ Climate Commitment. More than 650 colleges and universities have signed the commitment to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate research and educational efforts to stabilize Earth’s climate.
Environmental Awareness Week activities include a competition between residence halls to reduce energy consumption, utilizing an energy monitoring system donated by Dominion. Dennis Hall leads the competition with a 19.3 percent reduction so far this week.
Also, students have conducted a waste audit of recyclables placed in the trash at two residence halls, attended a demonstration of a campus composting system that is being installed, and showed environmentally themed feature films. The campus dining center held a vegetarian awareness day, and Global Exchange set up a table of fair trade chocolate as part of its national “Reverse Trick or Treat” campaign.
Article ID: 562
