BLACKSBURG -- When Virginia Tech junior Angella De Soto sits in her Community Renewable Energy Systems class she can't help but notice her surroundings.

While studying advances in building efficiency, she's sitting in an old, drafty structure with some windows that don't even close completely. Her professor may be discussing the latest in solar, wind and biomass technologies, but her classroom is heated by coal-fired boilers.

The environmental irony at the state's top research university doesn't stop with a few poorly insulated buildings and its steam plant's coal-fired boilers. Its recycling program, never particularly prominent compared with other universities', recycles a little more than half of what it did in 2000.

But over the past year a growing chorus of student, faculty and administrative voices has proposed ways to close the gap between what is taught and what is practiced in the way of environmentalism and energy efficiency at Tech.

They'll all have a chance to come together Monday when Tech holds its first Dean's Forum on the Environment capped off by a speech from environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It's free and open to the public and is designed to stimulate discussion and showcase the university's latest research and activity on environmental issues.

Environmental education

De Soto is Tech's co-chairwoman for The Campus Climate Challenge, an effort to raise awareness of global warming issues on 540 campuses. The Tech group has organized several events over the past month, including a concert to raise awareness of the ramifications of climate change.

De Soto and co-chairwoman Natalya Hallanan also attended a conference over winter break where former Vice President Al Gore led a training session for people interested in giving presentations similar to the one he gives in his film on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."

De Soto and Hallanan are coordinating efforts with students throughout the state and plan to give presentations at Tech and on other campuses this semester.

The group has set a timeline for different campuses to become carbon-neutral. Tech, with its steam plant, has a longer-term goal than other Virginia schools -- 15 years. While she acknowledges the group's goals are ambitious, De Soto said Monday's forum is an indication that the school is moving in the right direction. But there are other signs that the student body isn't as aware of environmental issues as their counterparts at other schools.

Tech's student newspaper, The Collegiate Times, has run two columns arguing against the idea of man-made global warming. Sandwiched between the columns was a much-publicized report from the leading international group of climate change scientists stating that climate change was "very likely" due to human activity. But campus response to the columns was mixed.

De Soto said a student debate on the topic is being planned next month, but added that the fact that the issue is even being debated on campus is disappointing.

"But if you don't go out and take a class, nobody has any idea what is going on," she said.

An environmental policy and planning major, De Soto was set on getting a business degree until she took a resources geology course her freshman year. She said it opened her eyes to many of the issues she's calling attention to now.

De Soto isn't alone. A group of environmental policy and planning students proposed "green fees" as part of a class project that began last year. They received endorsements from student government and more than 7,000 student signatures supporting a $6 fee each semester dedicated to campus sustainability. For a student body routinely criticized for being apathetic to everything but Hokie sports, the students think it's a strong sign of support.

The green fee has not received approval from the university but Sara Breakiron, one of the students involved in the project, said its most important goal is to draw attention to the issues.

"Part of the goal of the green fee was to convince the university that this is a priority, this is something that the students care about," she said. "I think they've kind of come around and seen it's kind of a win-win thing."

The student project was part of a class taught by Lisa Schweitzer, a professor in Tech's Urban Affairs and Planning program who is working on a project that she hopes will result in campus vehicles running on used vegetable oil.

Working with Tech senior biological systems engineering major Ian Doran, Schweitzer said changing from diesel to biodiesel fuel has significant benefits for the health of workers because diesel emits multiple potent carcinogens. Schweitzer and Doran admit their efforts to convert the used oil to usable biodiesel fuel are in very early stages, but, "everything has to start somewhere," Schweitzer said.

Tech political science professor Richard Rich is involved in another environmental effort. The program, which had its first class of students two years ago, gives core-curriculum credits to freshmen and sophomores taking courses from various departments with an underlying theme of environmentalism. It ties together different disciplines and gives students opportunities to travel to other campuses to see environmental projects.

Rich is in his 31st year at Tech and has done consulting for national organizations that study the environment. He has also worked with multiple campus groups on environmental issues and is encouraged that issues are being discussed, but said Tech is "far behind the curve" when compared with what other schools do to limit their environmental impact.

"There's more interest now in environmental performance than there ever has been," he said. "But we've made very little real progress."

Rich points to simple things the university can do, such as raising parking fees to reduce traffic on campus, using biodegradable materials in dining halls, better insulating old buildings and installing more energy-efficient light bulbs. But while the university could make progress tackling what Rich calls "low-hanging fruit," the single biggest environmental issue on campus is the steam plant, he said.

A cleaner coal

The steam plant, smoke pouring out of its brick chimney as it burns about 30,000 tons of Kentucky coal a year, has become an iconic picture of Tech and the environment. The plant uses three oil and natural gas-fired boilers and two coal-fired boilers to heat campus buildings. Coal is dirtier than other fossil fuels, filling the air with sulfur and nitrogen dioxide and other airborne particles causing acid rain, smog and other hazards.

While the university has looked into using cleaner fuels, it's a fiscal and logistical impossibility right now, said Bill Elvey, Tech's assistant vice president for facilities.

"It's all about resources," he said. "I'm sure everybody would like to be able to just snap their fingers and make it happen."

Tech gets its coal from Kentucky because other suppliers closer to the university can't meet the standards set for the relatively clean coal used to heat Tech's boilers, said utilities director Ben Myers.

One of the two coal-fired boilers was built with devices to prevent much of the pollution associated with coal burning. The other boiler does not have such devices.

Built in 1957, it pours more than 40 tons of fine particulate matter into the air each year. But as part of a $5.8 million project to retrofit the old boiler with new equipment, about 98 percent of that pollution will be removed starting next month, Elvey said. Sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant will drop from more than 440 tons to less than 100 tons a year, he said.

Tech is also about to embark on a $28.7 million project to increase the capacity of its steam plant. It will take two years and involve replacing steam lines around campus with larger and better-insulated pipes. The net result will be less steam for the same amount of heat. And it is expected to save the university about $1 million a year.

But while the plant can become more efficient, one byproduct of the coal burning that can't be mitigated is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas believed by some to be responsible for global warming.

'A new day'

Using less coal through a fairly simple measure has become the mission of Kristen Ruch. The Tech senior is leading a campus "Make the Switch" campaign to get students to purchase 25,000 compact fluorescent bulbs. While more expensive than traditional bulbs, they last longer and use a quarter of the wattage while emitting a similar level of light. One bulb saves about 60 pounds of coal a year.

Elvey's department has contributed $5,000 to Ruch's cause. And higher up the administrative ladder, Tech is encouraging other projects. In the fall it announced a new program, Innovative Solutions, to encourage campus efficiency. Initial costs are paid by central funding and are paid back by energy savings after programs are implemented.

A water conservation project has been approved as well as two energy-savings projects totaling more than $200,000. The projects involve installing energy-saving light sensors in classrooms and new lamps and ballasts in Whittemore Hall.

The university has plans to implement other simple solutions. Starting next fiscal year, Tech will revitalize its moribund recycling program, which was a casualty of state budget cuts. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jim Hyatt said there are also plans to target inefficient campus buildings for renovations.

And new buildings at Tech are being built with the intent of making them LEED-eligible. The acronym, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a national benchmark for environmentally responsible buildings.

Colleges all over the country have constructed LEED-certified buildings and highlight them as a way to practice what they preach.

John Randolph, a professor of environmental planning and a committee member for Monday's forum, said the symbolism of such a building can't be underestimated. Tech's boilers are still the focal point of campus environmental discussion, after all.

"But you know, it's kind of a new day and I think that if we get some LEED-certified buildings, you have that kind of physical manifestation of it," he said. "It becomes the focal point."