Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times

Julio Stephens, who began as Radford University's sustainability coordinator in August, stands near the university's buses that run on biodiesel.

RADFORD -- When some colleges and universities decide to do something environmentally friendly, they often make a big, publicity-hungry deal out of it.

At Radford University, they've being doing such things -- running buses and machinery on biodiesel, for instance -- without a lot of hoopla.

And that started long before President Penelope Kyle's August announcement that she wants Radford to be one of the greenest campuses in the commonwealth.

"We just did it because that was the thing to do," Tommy Manning, director of facilities operations, said about the switch to biodiesel.

The people who drove the buses didn't even know it was happening, Manning said. He and his staff simply did their homework, figured out what they had to do and did it.

Now all the buses, mowers and other diesel-powered equipment on campus run on fuel that's 20 percent biodiesel.

Every lightbulb on campus that can be a compact fluorescent is a compact fluorescent. Manning has given the housekeeping folks boxes of CFLs so they can swap out any rogue incandescent bulbs that turn up on campus.

Before he became dean of Radford's College of Graduate and Professional Studies in June, Dennis Grady was director of Appalachian State University's Energy Center.

Justin Cook The Roanoke Times

Radford University's recycling coordinator Stan Wilkinson unloads cardboard into a compactor on campus. The university has purchased six electric vehicles for use around campus.

So Kyle thought he was the perfect person to head up Radford's sustainability efforts. She buttonholed him at a social gathering, Grady said, and by September he was chairing the committee that's overseeing that drive.

Part of what Grady has been doing is finding out how much has already been done.

Radford ought to join the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, he said. It already had.

It already had a system that controls heating, air conditioning and air flow in buildings across campus from one location.

The trayless food court is cutting food waste by about 20 percent and saving tens of thousands of gallons of water.

Recycling is being beefed up with two new paid positions, plus a work-study student, making sure it gets done.

Electric vehicles are used across campus -- including the vehicles that collect recyclable materials.

Housekeeping is using some environmentally friendly cleaning products. Paper towels and toilet tissue are made mostly from recycled paper.

When students moved in this academic year, there were places designated for them to drop off their used up cardboard boxes. The campus recycled about 30 percent more cardboard than it did on last fall's move-in day.

And about 30 percent less waste went to a landfill this year. That's according to Julio Stephens, who began as the university's sustainability coordinator in August.

That doesn't mean there's nothing for Grady -- some call him Mr. Green Dean -- and his sustainability steering committee to do.

They're overseeing a dozen subcommittees looking into all sorts of areas where Radford can do better.

Can Radford's new buildings be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified? Should Radford sign onto the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment? How can the university coordinate with the city, which is on a greening mission of its own? (The city's consultant is a Radford University faculty member, so that should help.)

Perhaps most important, the steering committee is a focal point for volunteers and a clearing house for ideas -- such as trading in the campus telephone directory for an online-only version.

"We may be able to save a couple of hundred trees next year just by having an online phone book instead of a paper phone book," Grady said. "We provide a place for just cool ideas to come forward."

People are coming forward, too. More than 70 people had volunteered to work on the greening efforts a week ago. "And each day it grows," Grady said.

Grady's biggest job in the short term may be measuring what's been done already and letting people know about it.

"People just don't brag about it enough," he said.

Kyle has been a driving force behind the organized greening of Radford University.

According to university spokesman Michael Hemphill, "President Kyle has really exerted all the university's resources to make this a green campus."

But some people have questioned Kyle's dedication to the cause because she drives a Lincoln Navigator -- not exactly the greenest vehicle on the market.

Hemphill said the Navigator is Kyle's 10-year-old personal vehicle. She'd like to sell it, he said, but the market for big sport utility vehicles is a bit depressed right now.

What Kyle drives most of the time is a Chevy Tahoe the Radford University Foundation bought for her. She wanted something safe for her frequent trips between Radford and Richmond, Hemphill said. (The Tahoe has a five-star crash rating.)

There wasn't a hybrid Tahoe available when the foundation bought Kyle's SUV, but the Tahoe's V-8 cuts back to four cylinders when it doesn't need all that power. That pushes the highway mileage as high as 20 mpg, according to EPA estimates.

When it's time for the Tahoe to be replaced, it may be replaced with something more fuel efficient.

"This is something that's definitely going to be on the table," Hemphill said.