Colleges Making Changes to Be Greener

College Campuses are similar to small cities. They provide housing, recreation spaces, eateries, and often large green spaces. Larger campuses like Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, even have their own power plants. Because colleges are places of higher learning, they are called on to be progressive and places of change. If colleges make changes to become greener, the changes can influence students to go out in the world and make more environmentally conscious choices. The following schools have made changes in order to make their campus greener.

NW Campus is a project of Northwest Seed, an environmental organization based out of Seattle, WA. The NW Campus website offers ideas to colleges trying to become green and also highlights schools that have come up with creative solutions. The website writes about the new vending machines that Tufts University installed on their campus. Vending machines are located in every building on college campuses and they use a lot of energy by running 24/7. "Tufts University installed 90 Vending Misers on their campus vending machines. With a payback time of less than 1 year, these energy saving devices have a motion sensor; if no one is near the vending machine for 15 minutes, the vending machine is shut off. Tufts found that the energy use from a vending machine was cut in half with the Vending Miser"

Harvard University is an Ivy League school that is serious about being green. The school gives grants to students who propose workable plans to create a more sustainable campus. The campus hosts a weekly farmers market to allow students to purchase locally grown and organic produce and other products. A school known for its traditions has started a new tradition. The school will now host the Harvard Green Carpet Awards. This is an "event to acknowledge the individuals and teams across the University who have contributed to reducing our environmental impact".

Students often work out to get in shape and work off stress. At Oregon State University, the school has found a way to capture the energy created by students using elliptical machines and use it to power the campus. The machines, manufactured by a Florida firm will produce "an estimated 3,500 kilowatt hours of electricity in a year, according to Brandon Trelstad, the university's sustainability coordinator. Its output could be equivalent to what is needed to power a small, efficient house, Trelstad said. "Our ultimate goal is to maximize both the real power output of the system and the learning opportunities gained by having it at OSU."

http://nwgreencampus.org/conservation-efficiency/resources-and-links

http://green.harvard.edu/

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/02/osu_student_exercise_to_genera.html