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October 16, 2009
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What are the greenest colleges?
— The Editors
Santa Fe, New Mexico
 Like no other segment of the American economy, colleges and universities recognize the long-term financial payoff of sustainability. Not too long ago, the president of an East Coast college was telling me about his newly opened, LEED-certified dorm. The overall cost of making it super energy efficient was about four percent higher than if the school had used conventional building plans and materials, he said. But over the next century--because college buildings are expected to last at least that long--it could potentially save the school millions of dollars on its heating, cooling, and electricity bills. There's also the example of the Stanford business school--hardly a hotbed for money-hating, anti-capitalist, head-in-the-sand, spotted-owl savers. It recently broke ground on a new 12-acre campus that they hope will be the most sustainable in the world. Sure, there's the moral imperative to go green, but in the process, its facilities will reduce waste by 30 percent, energy use by 38 percent, and water consumption by 80 percent compared to typical facilities. Get the idea? Now for the five colleges and universities whose example your school or alma mater should follow:
1. Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
It may not be the absolute greenest school, but the nationwide campus sustainability movement was born at Tufts more than a decade ago. Now, the green way is the only way here. There are energy-efficient bulbs in almost every room, composting of more than a ton of food each day from the dining halls, only non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products used by the maintenance staff, and the buildings are LEED-certified.
2. College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine
Embedded on Mt. Desert Island on the Atlantic Coast, it's the nation's earthiest campus--and the first carbon-neutral one. A new housing complex boasts composting toilets, a wood-pellet boiler, and shredded newspapers in the walls for insulation. Oh, and there's only one undergrad subject you can major in: human ecology.
3. Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont
A model for environmental campus activism, in the shadow of the appropriately named Green Mountains. Students run energy-saving contests in the dorms. They also operate a bike shop to reduce car use, led a drive to build a new biomass facility to burn wood chips for electricity, and their recycling and composting efforts have reduced waste by more than 60 percent. And if they need any more inspiration or expert advice, they've got the writer and activist Bill McKibben as a scholar in residence.
4. University of Washington, Seattle
The school estimates that it has saved more than $50 million in utility bills, thanks to its aggressive efficiency efforts. In addition, it buys offsets for all of its electricity use, its dining service spends a quarter of its budget on local organic food--served on compostable plates--and the school operates a fleet of 300 alternative-fuel, hybrid, and plug-in electric cars.
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5. Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Always a leader in progressive thinking, it was the first school to regularly admit African-Americans starting in 1837. And two years later, it began admitting women, making it the oldest co-ed school in the country. Today, the campus is home to Ohio's largest solar array, which powers an entire 4,600- square-foot building, and a student body that runs a bike co-op, car-sharing program, and a Lightbulb Brigade that has handed out more than 10,000 squiggly, compact fluorescent bulbs.
Eco Adventurer
Greg Melville is the author of Greasy Rider, a new book in which he drives across the country in a fry-oil-powered car investigating the future of green technology. A journalist who has written for Outside, The New York Times, and Popular Mechanics, Melville blogs about all things eco at greasyriderbook.blogspot.com. He lives with his wife, kids, and dog in Asheville North Carolina.
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