VCU’s National Compact of Commitment to Environmental Stewardship

By Anne Buckley

Virginia Commonwealth University president Eugene P. Trani has signed a national compact among college presidents to address global warming by working to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions on campuses.

Trani earlier this month signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, an initiative to reduce the global emission of greenhouse gases by 80 percent by mid-century to avert the worst impacts of global warming.

"VCU is making great strides toward becoming a greener university," Trani said, and "this type of formal compact highlights VCU's commitment to work with universities across the country to demonstrate leadership in the community by modeling ways to minimize emissions that contribute to global warming."

VCU already was constructing two new recreational centers, its new Medical Sciences Building, the School of Dentistry addition and the School of Engineering's new Health and Life Sciences laboratory to Silver certification as outlined by the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED standards. It also is working toward Platinum LEED certification of a new education pavilion at the VCU Rice Center on the James River.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings' performance. 

In addition, many efforts are in place across VCU's campuses to conserve energy and reduce emissions, including housekeeping's use of green, citrus-based cleaning products and recycled towels; the retrofitting of electronic equipment throughout the university to energy savings standards; the wholesale recycling of electronic equipment, wood, paper and aluminum products; plumbing upgrades for saving water; and the installation of new stack "scrubbers" in the MCV campus steam plant that remove particulate and other gases from the stack effluent.

The signing of the compact was in part due to a request from VCU's Student Government Association, which earlier in the year urged VCU's administration to seek ways for VCU to embrace sustainability in design and stewardship.

"The threat of global warming and environmental degradation is the greatest peril of my generation," SGA president Jessica Lee wrote in an open letter to Trani. "Considering the damage and the lifestyle that we as a society have already established, it will take a tremendous effort at every level to overcome these hurdles.

"We are proud to say that VCU is already beginning to move forward in becoming environmentally friendly … however, more change is needed," the letter said.

The compact calls for signatory universities to:

• Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least Silver level LEED standards.
• Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.
• Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by the institution.
• Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors.
• Within one year of signing, begin purchasing or producing at least 15 percent of the institution's electricity consumption from renewable sources.
• Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where the institution's endowment is invested.
• Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt three or more associated measures to reduce waste.

This year, VCU joined the ranks of more than 400 colleges across the country to increase recycling on campus through RecycleMania.