News > November 20, 2008

By Caitlin Brooks | Asst. news editor

Environmental issues are some of the most pressing challenges facing our generation, junior Cassie Freund, Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) president, said.

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Before the October release of the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s sustainability report card, it seemed the university was oblivious to or unconcerned about this fact.

The coalition, a Rockefeller-funded environmental study group out of Cambridge, Mass., evaluated the nation’s 300 most prominent universities. The university scored in the bottom third with a C- and was given a lower grade than any school with an endowment greater than $1 billion.

As news of the sub-par score spread, administrators began to take heed and students and faculty who had long been interested in eco-conscious lifestyles rejoiced at the visible measures taken by the administration.

The highly controversial decision to lock Reynolda Hall all night not only promotes security of the building, but it saves all the energy formerly used to run the building for only a few studying students. Though students questioned the disappearance of the much loved Pit trays last year and poked fun at saving the environment by carrying their dishes to the tray return, the effort does save water.

Less publicized, but equally important endeavors include printing limited copies of the course catalogue, encouraging students to view offerings online. The class of 2012 found all of their admissions info on the Internet, which saved the reams of paper used in previous years to distribute orientation information.

“When students leave here they will either have careers in green areas or just any career that is going to have to deal with sustainability issues and we want to give them the tools to be conversant in this area,” Provost Jill Tiefenthaler said. “Students will be looking for it (an environmentally-informed education) when they arrive and need it when they leave,”

The university is now in the final stages of acquiring a new administrator, a sustainability director. Candidates for the position, which will require frequent reports to the office of the provost and facilities about ways to improve the university’s sustainability citizenship, have already finished the interview process. An applicant should be hired by next month or the beginning of the spring semester at the latest. The Master Plan, which calls for extensive expansion over the next 10 years, mandates that all new construction on campus conform to U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Standards for building. LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The silver standard is the second tier of requirements for new construction. Certified buildings must meet requirements in such categories as water efficient, energy and atmosphere, and materials and resources.

There is currently only one LEED certified building in Forsyth County, the new office headquarters for Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce Architects, PA and consulting engineering firm, Cavanaugh & Associates, PA. The first LEED Silver building on campus will be the new welcome center/admissions building. The shift to green building has already begun. Construction in the library and North Campus apartments over the summer featured the installation of low flow urinals and dual flush toilets to help conserve water. Also, older, energy-intense fluorescent fixtures across campus are being converted to energy efficient fluorescents which reduce energy consumption, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It is always a challenge when you have an entire university run for a very small number of students, but (our small student body is) what we are all about, and that’s important. But we should do it in the most sustainable way possible,” Tiefenthaler said.

Administrators are not the only ones pushing for sustainability. Four years ago, Associate Professor of Biology Miles Silman, Professor of Biology Dave Anderson, instrumentation manager of the chemistry department Marcus Wright and technology specialist of the education department Robert Vidrine embarked on a biodiesel fuel initiative for the university.

The plan entailed using all the leftover oil from the Dixie Classic Fair as well as from dining hall operations, converting it into biodiesel fuel at a plant in King, N.C., and then using it to fuel university vehicles.

On Oct. 2, 2007 the first shipment of fuel from King arrived on campus and was used to fuel some two dozen vehicles ranging from tractors and a trash vacuum to a dump truck on campus.

Maintenance vehicles across campus are still fueled by this converted vegetable oil, and last year, students took influential roles in the Biofuels Initiative. The next big step in the drive to use sustainable biofuel on campus will be to bring an actual student run reactor to the university. Currently, biodiesel must be transported miles from King to the university, which nearly defeats the ecological benefits the repurposed fuel provides. Senior Lacey Robinson, a leader in the initiative, projects that a refinery will come to campus by the end of next semester.

“This whole program really promotes cross campus collaboration,” Robinson said. “Business students and natural science students, professors and undergrads; everyone will collaborate. It’s going to be a really unique opportunity for a lot of students to get involved.”

Currently, the university pays for its waste vegetable oil from the Fresh Food Company and Benson to be discarded, but the biofuels project will convert the oil into diesel, which will not only save the environment by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions (biofuel produces much less carbon dioxide than petroleum fuels) but it will save the university money, and really, Robinson said, that’s what it’s all about.

“When I think of environmentalism, I see amazing economic potential. There is profound potential to influence society if you can create a competitive business that sets a whole new standard for energy production and consumption,” Robinson said. “You can convince people to be eco-friendly because it saves businesses money. It just makes business sense to be sustainable; it’s a win-win.”

Not interested in biodiesel? SEAC has been steadily active on campus and provides several ways for students to live greener lives without a huge time commitment. First and foremost: recycling. SEAC members distributed recycling bins to freshmen during orientation as well as to upperclassmen by request. Large signs now adorn residence halls above the familiar recycling bins with clarifying images of recyclable waste. Tiefenthaler lauded the recycling program, which has made significant improvements in the last few years. According to Tiefenthaler, approximately 25 percent of all waste from the university is now diverted from landfills for reuse, up from the mid-teens in previous years.