Renewable power is quickly becoming an important option to fuel the world’s electricity demands.  Nonrenewable sources, such as coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear energy, pollute our air and water and destroy natural habitats for plants and animals.  Renewable energy sources have less of a negative impact on the environment and include hydroelectric, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and electricity from municipal solid waste.  In the United States, the majority of our electricity is powered by coal, followed by nuclear, natural gas, and oil.  Less than 9% of our electricity is generated from renewable sources.

In an effort to encourage organizations and businesses to utilize renewable energy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has created the voluntary Green Power Partnership (GPP) for universities, non-profit, private, and public organizations.  Aside from the obvious benefit of environmental preservation, organizations in the GPP receive expert advice on green power, tools and resources, credibility, and publicity.  Green power percentage requirements are proportionate to the organization’s annual electricity use, with smaller organizations starting at a minimum of 20% and larger organizations beginning at 3%.  There are many participants whose energy comes from over 100% renewable sources.

The top 20 colleges and universities in the GPP have collectively purchased enough green energy to power over 120,000 homes for an entire year.  The majority of these higher education institutions use wind and solar energy.  Included in this list are the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Utah, Oregon State University, Drexel University, Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, the University of Phoenix, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Maryland.

Top retail green power purchasers include Kohl’s, Whole Foods Market, Starbucks, Staples, Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Safeway, and REI.  Most of these businesses use biogas and wind energy.  The top federal government participants in the GPP include the Department of Energy, the EPA, the Air Force, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service.  Solar, wind, and biogas power the majority of these organizations’ renewable energy usage.

To be sure, organizations can use renewable energies without participating in the Green Power Partnership.  The GPP can provide valuable resources to the organizations that populate its ranks but many organizations are utilizing renewable energy independent of the EPA program.  At APUS, for example, our latest addition to campus includes a 45,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building that is currently in the LEED certification process.  The building includes 99 solar panels on the roof which will assist in generating the power needed to operate the building.  The university system is currently constructing another building which is also being built to LEED certification standards.  That building will include an entire “solar array,” a total of 1600 solar panels expected to provide nearly 60% of the building’s energy needs.

As colleges and universities have taken up the cause of environmentalism and sustainability on their campuses, many are using green building as a means toward achieving reduced carbon emissions.  In November 2010, American Public University System (APUS) completed construction of a 45,000 square foot state-of-the-art Academic Center which is anticipated to achieve the US Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Gold certification.  (To see a video from the ribbon cutting ceremony for the building, click here.)  While it is too soon to know for sure how much of an impact the newest building on APUS’ campus will have on the school’s carbon emissions, there is great hope (and precedent) that it will have a positive impact.

Green buildings and buildings that are LEED certified are becoming increasingly prevalent on college and university campuses.  In September 2010, The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations received LEED Silver certification, becoming the thirty-fifth LEED certified project at Harvard.  The University of Washington is home to thirteen LEED certified building projects, including The Benjamin D. Hall Interdisciplinary Research Building which is the first on the West Coast, second in higher education, and eleventh in the country to receive the USGBC’s Gold CS Pilot Certification.  Arizona State University has just completed its SkySong Center which received LEED Silver Certification and was also awarded an Award of Merit from the Valley Forward Association for its green building standards.  Emory University boasts nearly 2 million square feet of LEED-certified building space.

Colleges and universities are not the only institutions of learning that are beginning to understand the importance of green facilities, however.  K-12 schools are also beginning to consider green options when building new schools.  The Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO), for example, is assisting Texas schools in specific districts to develop sustainable school buildings.  SECO identified the fastest growing Independent School Districts (ISDs) within Texas (McKinney ISD and Austin ISD) and provided each with $200,000 to update existing buildings and construct new buildings to meet green standards.  Roy Lee Walker Elementary School in McKinney is the product of SECO’s efforts.  The school was completed in 2000 and includes a windmill, eco-pond, weather station, and rainwater collection system as well as significant amounts of daylighting, outdoor teaching spaces, and low or non-toxic building materials. 

APUS’ home state of West Virginia is very close to completing its first green public school.  Spring Mills Primary School in Berkeley County is anticipated to receive LEED Silver certification.  The Mother Nature Network reported on the school during its construction noting that “in its current state, the Spring Mills Primary School hardly appears green” but looks can be deceiving.  The school was built to sit from east to west so that maximum natural heat can be brought in through the windows and boasts a three inch insulated white roof to reflect sunlight.  A garden is included on the school grounds and rainwater is collected from the roof to water the school’s garden.  The article in Mother Nature Network concludes by stating that the school is not just important because of its construction but also “because of the message it sends to the rest of the Berkeley County community, and the state of West Virginia in general.”  In a state plagued with criticisms of its coal economy, Spring Mills Primary School is a beacon of hope for environmentally conscious West Virginians.

David Lloyd (Director of the Office of Brownfields Cleanup and Land Revitalization at US EPA), Shelly Poticha (Director, Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, US HUD), Charles Town Mayor Peggy Smith, APUS Provost Dr. Frank McCluskey, APUS President and CEO Dr. Wallace E. Boston, and Bryna Helfer (Director of Public Engagement for Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood) cut the ribbon to officially open the new environmentally-friendly Academic Center.

This morning American Public University System (APUS) held the ribbon cutting event for its fifteenth building in downtown Charles Town, West Virginia.  The building is a 45,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly building which is anticipated to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification. 

 The building is constructed on a site designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a brownfields, a site which, due to previous uses, may contain various contaminants.  The site on which APUS chose to construct its building was previously used as an industrial scrap yard; various contaminants were found in the soil at the site including lead and petroleum products.  The contaminants were removed from the soil prior to construction.  In total, the university system removed 36 tons of soil from the property before beginning the construction process.

The building features state-of-the-art technologies which will make it highly energy efficient.  For example, the windows are double-paned with argon gas between the panes which reflect ultraviolets and keep them from naturally heating the building.  The building has been designed to maximize the natural light that is allowed to enter the building so that less purchased electricity will be required to light offices.  Additionally, dual sensor light fixtures have been installed which sense movement as well as heat; within ten minutes of sensing neither, the lights will turn themselves off.

The exterior of the building has native landscaping which will require little to no watering after the first year.  A storm water retention pond has been established on site to collect storm water runoff which is filtered through a series of planted grasses at the bottom of the pond to ensure that contaminants from parking lots do not enter the ground.  All materials used within the building were made and purchased within 500 miles of the site which allowed APUS to keep transportation costs low and also reduce the volume of vehicle emissions that would come with transporting materials to the site. 

The roof of the building has a reflective surface which deflects heat from the top of the building and keeps the site from becoming a “heat sink.”  Solar panels have been installed on the roof as well to help provide power for the building.  All appliances used in the employee break room are ENERGY STAR products, per APUS policy of purchasing such appliances whenever possible. 

Local, state, and federal dignitaries were on hand to commemorate the event and tours of the building were offered after the ribbon was cut.  APUS President and CEO, Dr. Wallace E. Boston spoke to attendees.  Among his remarks, he noted that “Success in today’s interconnected world requires strong leadership with a broad awareness of global issues and environmental stewardship.  We impart this knowledge in the classroom and embrace it through our own actions.”  The newest addition to APUS’ Charles Town campus is a testament to the school’s commitment to the environment, its students, and its community.

Last week, several American Public University System (APUS) staff members from the school’s Instructional Design and Development office and the Office of the President presented at the 16th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning in Orlando, Florida.  The Sloan Consortium (often called simply “Sloan-C”) “is an institutional and professional leadership organization dedicated to integrating online education into the mainstream of higher education, helping institutions and individual educators improve the quality, scale, and breadth of education.” More than 1,400 individuals attended (some virtually via Sloan’s live streaming feature) this year’s conference.  Attendees included representatives from other fully online institutions, ground-based colleges and universities, and schools with blended programs. 

The presentation, titled “Going Green Online,” detailed the ways in which APUS has capitalized on its online format to make significant progress in mitigating its carbon footprint.  The theme for this year’s conference was “The Power of Online Learning: Stimulating New Possibilities” and the group discussed the ways in which online universities can make a tremendous impact in combating climate change, a practice that is still relatively new to the online learning community.  To date, APUS is the only fully online school to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.  Stressing the effectiveness of online instruction in helping to reduce a school’s carbon footprint, the presenting group provided best practices to help interested schools of all formats (online, blended, or on-ground) get started with their own sustainability programs.  The unique session topic was well-attended and was a great fit for the conference theme of “stimulating new possibilities.”

The growing concern over climate change has led many companies to consider how to alter their own practices in order to mitigate their carbon emissions.  Several large corporations have taken significant steps toward assessing and taking steps to lessen their environmental impact.  Walmart, for example, has a very well-developed sustainability initiative and has a page on their corporate website devoted to tracking how the company is doing in its attempt to have a less negative impact on the environment.  General Electric also has a sustainability initiative and publishes an annual sustainability report to track the company’s progress in achieving a greener future.  Nearly 700 institutions of higher education (including American Public University System) have also pledged to assess their carbon footprints through signing the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and take dramatic measures toward eventually achieving carbon neutrality. 

Individuals, however, have arguably been aware of their own practices and their impact on the environment for as long, if not longer, than most American and global companies.  Most of us are aware that there are certain things we can do to lessen our environmental footprint and so we take reusable bags to the grocery store, swap out incandescent bulbs for LED bulbs in our homes, and even organize a carpooling system.  For most, however, the task of assessing their exact impact on the planet and quantifying how the changes we implement have had a positive impact has seemed too daunting to tackle. 

In recent years, a variety of personal carbon footprint calculators have become available online which can help individuals quantify how their own lifestyles and activities are impacting the environment.  Understanding how our everyday practices contribute to our overall carbon footprint can help us take steps to affect measurable and meaningful change.  As a September 2008 article in Scientific American points out, the results may be surprising to many but are helpful in determining how best to mitigate each person’s individual environmental impact.  For example, the article notes that “residents of eco-aware San Francisco tend to have bigger carbon footprints than those in more conservative Tampa, Florida” because “San Francisco has a higher cost of living and colder, wetter winters (requiring more fossil-fuel derived heat).”  Below are some of the most popular carbon calculators which can be used by individuals to determine their carbon footprints.

• University of California, Berkeley’s Cool Climate Calculator – This is one of the most comprehensive calculators, taking into account nearly every aspect imaginable.  Free to use, the calculator also allows users to compare their individual results with similar households in the 28 largest areas in the United States.  The “Take Action” tab on this calculator allows the user to see recommendations for reducing individual carbon footprints with information related to cost per month to implement each recommended action as well as estimated impact on the carbon footprint as a result. 
• EarthLab.com – EarthLab has partnered with Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection and other groups to disseminate information on how individual actions can impact the environment.  Users take a three minute survey and get back a carbon footprint score which can be saved and updated as changes in lifestyle are made.  This site also offers a wealth of lifestyle change suggestions which can help even the least informed take measures to mitigate their environmental impacts.
• CarbonFootprint.com – This site explains in great depth what contributes to one’s carbon footprint, bringing greater clarity and focus to the idea.  Users are not required to create an account but are advised to do so in order to revisit the information and update it as changes are made to each individual’s lifestyle. 
• World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Carbon Calculator – The WWF’s Carbon Calculator is quick and easy to use.  By answering only a handful of questions, the calculator is able to give you a quick result.  Additionally, this particular calculator compares your total tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year to the average for the United States and the world.  Users can share their results with other users and review options for reducing their own annual emissions.

On June 13, 25 people made up of Charles Town, WV residents, including Mayor Peggy Smith, and American Public University Systems (APUS) employees came together to participate in a town-wide cleanup. The group divided up and walked the 42 square blocks resulting in 16 bags of gathered trash. The City of Charles Town and APUS partnered to make this a success and hope to continue Community Cleanup events in the future.  It is the goal of this partnership that these kinds of events will lead into recycling and other citywide green programs.

I recently read a great quick-reference guide called the green book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen.  It is filled with hundreds of little ideas that we all can do to make significant, positive impacts on our planet’s health.  For this article, I’d like to highlight one of the sections I thought was interesting and informative:  How to green your home, one room at a time.

The Kitchen
Composting.  Place fruits and vegetable scraps, as well as coffee grounds in a container or composter and add them to your garden.  These items are food for your plants, they help to recycle valuable nutrients, and save space in the landfills.  You can also save water by not running your garbage disposal, just by composting the items you would normally send down the drain.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that yard trimmings and food scraps constitute 26 percent of the United States municipal solid waste in the landfills.  For additional information on composting please see the recent American Public University System (APUS) Sustainability blog article by Allison Knox on Composting in the Workplace and at Home.

Dishwasher.  Make sure that your dishwasher is completely full before you run it.  Also, do not pre-rinse your dishes before you load them into the dishwasher.  If you hand wash, turn off the faucet between scrubbing and rinsing.  This could save up to 20 gallons of water per dish load or 7,300 gallons in one year!

Refrigerator.  According to the authors, your fridge is the biggest energy-consuming kitchen appliance, and opening and closing the door continuously accounts for up to $60 per year in energy used.  So, the next time you are looking for a snack from the refrigerator, do it quickly!

The Living Room
Fireplace.  Leaving the damper on your fireplace open allows up to 8 percent of your home’s heat to escape.  Keep the damper closed unless you are using the fireplace.

Matches and Lighters.  When choosing, choose matches.  1.5 billion disposable lighters end up in landfills each year.  These lighters are made of plastic and contain butane fuel which are both made from petroleum.  Book matches are even better than box matches since box matches are made from trees and book matches are made from recycled paper.

Mail.  Rogers and Kostigen explain that the average U.S. home receives enough junk mail per year to constitute 1.5 trees, and many of us typically throw it into the garbage.  To lower the amount of junk mail you receive, they suggest you register with the Mail Preference Service by visiting www.dmachoice.org.  For more information how junk mail affects the planet visit www.donotmail.org.  If you do receive junk mail, please recycle it.

The Backyard
Hoses.  Attach a nozzle to your hose to prevent unnecessary water usage.  The authors note that you can save over 6 gallons per minute and if 10 percent of us do this, we could save enough water to fill 128,000 bathtubs per year.

Pool.  Covering your pool when it’s not in use saves 90 percent of water evaporation, which means less time refilling it.  Average sized pools lose almost one thousand gallons of water a month during the summer months.  This is “enough water to meet the drinking water needs of a family of four” for over a year.

These are just a few of the ideas this great resource provides.  The green book is filled with many easy and accessible ways to make small changes to your daily activities which make a big impact on the environment.

In 2003 when American Public University System (APUS) moved to Charles Town, West Virginia from its original home of Manassas, Virginia (where the university system continues to maintain its student services and marketing offices), the system’s leadership was cognizant of the historic nature of their new home.  As the institution has grown in student population and added additional employees, adequate parking for employees commuting to work became an ongoing problem.  APUS currently owns eight structures in the downtown area of the city and leases six additional buildings and space in three others.  Several of these buildings do not have their own parking lots and this has forced employees to contend with other downtown businesses and residences for parking on the street.

In an attempt to alleviate this problem, APUS began exploring means to augment the parking in the historic district.  As a charter signatory to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), the university system’s leadership was also especially aware of the environmental impact of any construction.  With this in mind, the organization recently underwent a project to install four new parking lots for employee use.  The first one was completed in 2008 and the latest three have been recently completed in late 2009.  In total, approximately 20,000 square feet of land was used to create four parking lots, providing an additional 70 much-needed off-street spaces to APUS employees.

APUS’ leadership realized that using asphalt to pave lots for employee parking was not an environmentally sound method since crude oil is a key ingredient in asphalt and the sealants, caulks, and coatings required when using such methods are sources of smog-forming emissions of volatile organic compounds.  Asphalt lots were not aesthetically pleasing and contributed to runoff in an area that drains into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  As an alternative, the university system decided to use a porous paver system for the four parking lots.  The paver system prevents storm water run-off by providing an 18-inch thick layer of compacted stone beneath the pavers.  This allows rainwater and snowmelt to pass through the gaps around the individual pavers where it can be captured in the stones below and is slowly returned to the soil underneath.  Storm water can pick up debris, chemicals, dirt, and other pollutants and flow into storm sewer systems or directly into lakes, streams, rivers, or wetland areas.  Anything that enters the storm sewer systems is discharged, untreated, into local bodies of water that citizens use for swimming, fishing, and even as sources of drinking water. 

In some cases, trees were able to be retained and worked around in the forming of the pavers since they are placed in a patterned fashion to create the larger area.  While the saving of these trees may have meant the loss of one or two parking spaces, APUS’ leadership felt that it was a worthwhile trade off.  The additional spaces provided to APUS employees mean that fewer employees are utilizing metered parking on the streets of downtown Charles Town.  Overall, the APUS project proved to be a great success for not only the employees of the university system but also created a benefit for APUS’ neighbors and the environment.

The concept of “going green” has taken on an entirely new meaning, look, and feel for American Public University System (APUS). APUS is proud to announce that our 2009-2010 graduates will be donning eco-friendly regalia during the commencement ceremony at Constitution Hall on May 21, 2010.  This environmentally friendly regalia look and feel like the traditional cloth previously utilized.  However, the regalia are made of 100% recycled plastic bottles!  Understandably, it is tempting to envision over 450 “Lady Gaga” look-a-likes walking through the procession to receive their diploma wearing gowns made of plastic bottles.  Alas, the reality is that the regalia, known as the “GreenWeaver” line, come from Oak Hall, a company out of Salem, Virginia.

Oak Hall is the leading manufacturer of academic apparel and is leading the charge in helping colleges and universities stay true to their promise to remain environmentally conscious.  The GreenWeaver regalia are made from approximately 23 bottles per gown.  As of March 1, 2010, 3.5 million plastic bottles have been reclaimed from landfills to produce GreenWeaver regalia.  APUS President Wallace Boston signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) in September 2007.  We believe our commencement ceremony is the appropriate forum to showcase our support to this commitment.  We are proud to recognize the achievements of our 2009-2010 graduates on May 21 while saving over 10,350 plastic bottles from being permanently deposited into our landfills!  This effort is merely a foreshadowing of what our university can accomplish using innovative ideas and forward thinking to accomplish the commitment made by President Boston and APUS.

To learn more about the May 21, 2010 commencement ceremony held at the Daughters of The American Revolution Constitution Hall, visit the website at http://www.apus.edu/student-affairs-center/commencement/index.htm.

Putting pen to paper to process the annual benefits open enrollment is a thing of the past!  Many companies, including American Public University System (APUS), have reverted to the more environmentally friendly and efficient method of processing benefits on-line.  This process affords employees the luxury of completing their benefits enrollment at their convenience.  Additionally, it affords the company a significant cost savings.  Take into consideration the following facts:

• 1 tree = 16 reams of printer paper.
• 1 ream of paper = 500 sheets.
• APUS = approximately 700 full-time employees and 400 part-time employees.
• Historically, open enrollment required that Human Resources distribute packets of information to all full-time employees.  Each packet contained approximately 100 pieces of paper.
• All enrollments were typed into the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and vendor’s systems manually.  This process invited the opportunity for human error.  Additionally, it took an extraordinary amount of time to input information multiple times. 

APUS initiated the web-based enrollment in November 2009 and enjoyed a seamless enrollment season.  The ability for the employees to log into their personal accounts and make their benefits selections at their convenience allowed the HR staff to spend more time communicating with the employees about questions regarding their benefits. Web-based enrollment also made the logistics of having employees in various locations throughout the United States easier to manage. 

From the perspective of creating efficient and error-proof processes, effective and accurate communication, cost-savings from a decrease in paper utilization; and most importantly treating our environment with the respect, care, and concern it deserves… web-based enrollment is truly priceless!