Sunday, January 03, 2010
Editorial: Virginia Tech leads on sustainability
The school is taking concrete steps to reduce its environmental impact.
From the RoundTable blog
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When it comes to the potential for waste, universities are high on the list. An institution like Virginia Tech has many opportunities to harm the environment. There are all those buildings to heat, employees to travel to and from campus, classrooms to illuminate, documents to copy, students to feed and more.
A better way to look at it is that Tech has many opportunities to reduce its collective impact on the environment. And it is doing so. The school placed third among state agencies in Gov. Tim Kaine's "Green Commonwealth Challenge."
Kaine issued that challenge last summer, asking government agencies to do what they could to improve sustainability. Could they reduce their energy consumption, decrease carbon emissions, cut down on waste production and increase recycling?
Tech delivered. The school was already in the midst of adopting its own sustainability plan. It vigorously recycles, and about a quarter of its faculty and staff car pool or use alternative means to commute. Moreover, as new buildings rise on campus and old ones are renovated, they incorporate smart environmental components.
Only the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Corrections did more than Tech. It would have been shocking if DEQ had not topped the list, for obvious reasons. That the prison folks did well, too, earns them commendation.
Agencies collectively avoided more than 47,000 in-person meetings during the challenge by using conference calls and video conferences. They also saved nearly 40,000 more car trips with car-pooling. That adds up to millions of road miles not driven, which in turn saved hundreds of thousands of dollars not spent on fuel.
These are not difficult things to implement. Doing right by the planet mostly requires only sufficient will. That it can also save money in these tight economic times makes sustainability even more attractive.
New River Valley residents can take pride that Tech did so well, topping all other schools and setting a strong example. No one thinks that the work is complete, of course. Tech's sustainability plan is a long-term vision to reduce emissions and waste. If the next governor does not share Kaine's passion for sustainability and preserving the environment, Tech will continue to be a leader anyway.
