In the past several days, Penn State has been recognized by two national organizations for its efforts toward ecological sustainability and energy conservation.
Penn State ranked eighth in a list of the top 10 eco-friendly schools by the Sierra Club's national magazine, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental group.
Oberlin College in Ohio topped the Sierra Club's list, followed by Harvard University and Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Penn State was the only Big Ten university ranked, although Northwestern University received an honorable mention.
In addition, the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave Penn State an overall grade of 'B,' an improvement over last year's 'C+,' in its annual "College Sustainability Report Card." Penn State was named a "Campus Sustainability Leader" by the organization.
The Institute assigned grades to schools in eight categories, including climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building and transportation.
Penn State's grades ranged from 'A's in administration, green building, food and recycling and endowment transparency to a 'D' in shareholder engagement.
The report said Penn State avoided a failing grade in shareholder engagement only because it is in the process of implementing proxy-voting guidelines for its investment managers.
Both rankings noted that Penn State is committed to achieving LEED certification for all new buildings and major renovations. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a national rating system for buildings that judges buildings on criteria such as energy input, landscaping and use of existing sunlight, said Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant spokesman.
"It's a very comprehensive way to analyze the green-friendliness of a building," he said.
This fall, Penn State's Lubrano Park became the first LEED-certified baseball park, according to a press release from the Institute.
Sierra Magazine also praised Penn State's "$10 million annual investment in retrofitting and efficiency."
Retrofitting is a way to make old buildings more energy efficient, Ruskin said.
"LEED is for new buildings. For retrofitting, we go in and basically do a tune-up on old buildings," he said. "We're going through about 10 or 12 a year ... eventually, we'll get to all of them."
In an effort to save energy, housing implemented the "Take Charge" energy initiative in the summer of 2006, said David Manos, assistant director of housing for East Halls.
University initiatives to conserve energy include using environmentally friendly wind power, updating technology to better control heat and lighting and changing out shower heads and faucets so they use less water, according to Take Charge's Web site, www.takecharge.psu.edu/initiatives.shtml.
Both sets of ratings also commended Penn State's commitment to making a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Penn State is the third largest university purchaser of renewable energy, according to the Sustainable Endowments Institute.
Ruskin said Penn State is striving to become more 'green' by building environmentally friendly buildings and improving campus transportation systems by using alternative fuels, among other initiatives.
"I think we are deeply committed to reducing our carbon footprint and improving our environmental friendliness," Ruskin said. "I would expect we would continue to follow an environmental strategy that will place us in the forefront nationwide."
