Virginia Tech was recently rated highly on the new Green Rating provided in the Princeton Review. This rating, in which Tech received a 90 on a 60-99 scale, is based on how environmentally friendly a school is in terms of its practices, policies, and course offerings.
Several initiatives and programs implemented at Tech supported this grade. Previously Tech had scored a C- on the College Sustainable Report Card in 2008. Dennis Cochrane, energy sustainability coordinator at Tech, stressed the extent of the campus' commitment to the progress of sustainable energy.
"We've been involved in so many things on campus that involve sustainability that it's nice to see someone else acknowledging a lot of the very positive things that we've been doing. It's absolutely remarkable the number of sustainability initiatives we've been participating in this year."
Sustainability Week is coming up, Oct. 21-27, along with the Power Shift 2008. Power Shift is a national youth climate summit aimed at a more environmentally friendly world.
Patrick Miller is an associate dean and professor in the architecture department and is also a task force coordinator for the Dean's Forum on the Environment. He brought mention to the green roof at the horticulture department and the sediment basins right next to the Duck Pond and explained how they were good examples of what Tech should keep working toward.
"The campus is doing better and can do better but has already made substantial progress," Miller said. He believed action should be expanded on the day lighting of the parking lot.
"The stream is underground the parking lot," Miller said. "If you could day light the stream, include some areas where water could be detained and soaked in and filtered before it runs into the stream. Right now, run off from the parking lot goes into the stream."
Unlike the 62 ranking lists that rate universities in categories such as athletic facilities, dining services, and quality of life, the Green Rating was compiled using information on the facilities, departments, and initiatives being done at a university. The ranking lists are based on surveys done by about 325 students per campus, unlike the Green Rating where interviewers and analysts come to schools to investigate the matter.
Most administrators, staff, and personnel at Tech are enthusiastic and confident in the promise of a cleaner greener future for Tech. Another task force coordinator, Associate Professor at the Forestry Department Randy Wynne, said that the goal is to "make campus, for lack of a better word, a laboratory for good practices. We will not always succeed but that's the purpose of a laboratory."
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No Mention of the Coal powered steam plant.
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also no mention of the fact that interior lights are kept on all night long in many older buildings that have no motion detectors. Or new buildings such as the one behind McBryde Hall, where the interior lights are on even at 2 AM throughout the building (doubt many people are in there at that time). Don't fool yourself people (and VT), the waste is astronomical. The coal plant produces an incredible amount of pollution. It does not have state-of-the-art scrubber systems on it, unlike many other plants throughout the country.
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We used to call the coal plant the Middle Finger of God when I lived in Thomas. It would cake our windowsills with a layer of black soot every semester.
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going to a green university was a very important factor in my college search. princeton review... what a joke.
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Perhaps something everyone is missing is the "per capita greenness" of Tech. Given the size and density of the community that it supports, maybe these transgressions (coal plant, lights remaining on, etc.) are fairly minor. I'm not saying changes can't be made, but that's why we didn't get a 99, right?
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