sustainable
sus·tain·able | \ sə-ˈstā-nə-bəl
1 : capable of being maintained at length without interruption or weakening
Climate Action
W&L has a goal for campus carbon neutrality by 2050, but we are racing to get there a whole lot sooner. This means innovating how we source, use, and dispose of resources here on campus, designing our buildings, landscape and operations for the best environmental impact, and collaborating on progress with communities across campus and throughout Rockbridge County. Explore our progress and plans on the tabs below and in the most recent update of W&L's Climate Action Plan. Looking for something you don't see, or have a question/suggestion? Reach out to OSEE@wlu.edu. We'd love to hear from you.
As the largest driver of W&L's campus emissions, energy has been a priority focus of W&L's climate action planning.
We started by cutting waste and have reduced energy use per square foot by 50% just by operating smarter.
For the energy we cannot cut, we're moving as fast as possible to renewable sources. W&L has three solar voltaic arrays and one solar thermal array on campus, directly powering our buildings.
In May 2022, we partnered with solar developer Sunenergy1 on the construction of a new 11 MW offsite facility designed to generate solar electricity equal to 100% of our annual campus consumption and feed it into our regional electricity grid. The array went live in June 2023, marked by an official ribbon cutting with members of W&L and SE1 celebrating on site.
With this project, we are proud to address our electricity emissions in a way that moves not just our campus but our market region forward.
What's next? Decarbonizing our central heat plant with a transition away from natural gas. A master utility plan in development now will outline the path to this next major achievement.
For a live look at campus solar production and electricity consumption, check out W&L's PowerTrip, our campus energy dashboard.
Live in the Village? Check your custom dashboard to track energy use in your apartment and see how you compare to you neighbors! Lost the link? Email OSEE@wlu.edu for a refresh.
Looking for quick tips on energy conservation? Take 3 minutes for the Energy 101 video.
How to Earn a Wellness Token by Completing an Energy Challenge
Waste is not a pretty picture, but good waste management is a beautiful thing. With a goal of cutting an additional 20% of emissions from waste by 2030, W&L's strategy focuses on landfill diversion through smart purchasing, intentional reuse, on-site composting and responsible recycling.
In August of 2022 W&L ended all sales of bottled water in campus venues, projected to cut over 11,000 single-use plastic bottles from our campus waste stream. With bottle filling stations and compostable cups available across campus, and reusable bottles for sale at a range of price points at the University Store, we can cut the plastic without cutting convenience.
All food waste and to-go ware from University Dining is composted at the campus Compost system, located next to the Campus Garden. Supported by an amazing student crew, W&L processed 139,000 Lbs. of food waste in the 22-23 academic year, keeping it out of the landfill and sequestering an average of 17 tons carbon of carbon annually.
The W&L Exchange helps reduce waste and unnecessary new purchasing by allowing supplies to circulate within the W&L community. One department's surplus office supplies are another department's alternative to an on-line order! Open to all campus departments/organizations and members of the W&L community for donations/cost-free "shopping." Check the How to" for updated hours and inventory.
Anything we can't avoid buying in the first place, reuse, or compost, we look to recycle. Our paper, aluminum, cardboard and 1&2 plastics from campus are recycled by RDS in Roanoke VA, keeping roughly 60 tons of material out of the landfill every year.
E-Waste is collected from campus by Powerhouse Recycling, certified e-Stewards and R2, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 compliant, putting viable components back in circulation and keeping toxic elements out of the land fill.
Check out the side bar for practical tips on doing waste right on campus.
From promoting locally produced ingredients to preventing food and packaging waste, Dining Services plays an important role in campus sustainability.
W&L Dining and Catering partner with the Office of Sustainability to bring food grown in the W&L Campus Garden straight to the plate in dining venues and catered events, providing ingredients with the best flavor, the highest nutritional content, and the lowest carbon footprint!
Dining also champions the campus composting programming by diverting kitchen scraps from meal prep and consumer food waste in the dining venues away from the landfill and into our own on-campus compost processing. All to-go packaging used in on-campus dining and catering is compostable, too, further reducing landfill emissions .
But while compostable packaging is great, reusable packaging is even better. W&L Dining is proud to offer ReusePass, making no-waste takeout free and easy. Get the details and sign-up for ReusePass.
Dining is committed to reducing food waste not just by keeping prep scraps and leftovers out of the landfill, but by reducing the amount of scraps and leftovers produced in the first place. A new partnership with Leanpath will give us the tools to track waste, identify problems, and work smarter to stop food waste at the source.
W&L has committed to certifying all new construction and major renovations on campus at a minimum level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver by U.S. Green Building Council. Using smart design - including thoughtful siting, sustainably sourced building materials and high efficiency systems - "green" buildings not only have a low environmental impact, they have low operating costs and provide healthier, more productive environments for the students, faculty, and staff who use them.
Using Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) in the capital planning process ensures we are making the best strategic decisions for long-term resource reduction. A commitment to aggressive Energy Use Intensity (EUI) standards for new buildings, and to implementing on-site renewables, energy recovery and rainwater capture where possible will help keep our carbon footprint going down as campus infrastructure evolves.
Landscaping initiatives from rain gardens and green roofs to native, drought-tolerant plant selections and pollinator-friendly beds keep campus beautiful while maximizing environmental benefits. Curious about native plants on campus? Check out this great digital resouce on W&L Native Plants, created by Clara Ortwein, '24, as part of her Environmental Studies capstone project.
Sustainable purchasing harnesses buying power to support healthy natural and social environments. When we buy only what we need, choose products that are made with minimal environmental harm, are produced through equitable and fairly compensated labor, and can be disposed of responsibly, we can protect precious resources and communities.
Following sustainable purchasing guidelines is also a great way to maximize cost and operational efficiencies. For example, when the university swaps out old lighting for LED bulbs, we slash energy use but also utility costs. Because LED bulbs last up to 20 times longer than incandescent bulbs, the change also cuts staff time required for maintenance dramatically. And finally, there's a huge improvement in the lighting quality. Sustainable purchasing isn't a compromise for the institution, it is a benefit.
Check out the sidebar for details on how to navigate sustainable purchasing in your department or student organization.
- Sustainable Purchasing Guidelines
- How to Plan a Sustainable Event
- How to Order Produce from the Campus Garden
- How to Order Compostable Servingware from Dining
Transportation is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. From commuting and business travel to transportation to athletic competitions and study abroad programs, W&L contributes to this statistic.
W&L's Blue Bike Program provides students and staff with free bike access for commuting and recreation, as well as bike repair services, and our campus No Idling policy reduces emissions from stationary vehicles. Airport shuttles run from campus during busy travel times to reduce individual trips to travel centers, and the Traveler system offers group transportation for the social circuit.
But as a rural campus with extremely limited public transportation options, emissions from commuting are a real challenge, and student and staff travel for research, work, sports and study-abroad is essential to University functions, but also high in carbon impact.
Building better travel emissions data will help us build better travel emissions solutions. Please help by filling out the Commuting Survey in the sidebar and following the tips on How to Record Travel Miles in Workday when filling out expense reports.
Watch this space for new initiatives and if you have suggestions, send them to OSEE@wlu.edu!
- Blue Bike Program
- No Idling Policy FAQ
- How to Record Travel on Expense Reports in Workday (coming soon)
An original signatory on the American College and University President's Climate Commitment, W&L has been tracking and publicly reporting emissions data since 2010. Nearly 700 colleges and universities are now working together on this initiative, administered by SecondNature.org, sharing resources, best practices and emissions updates - good and bad - as we pursue our carbon neutrality goals.
W&L's carbon reduction strategies are outlined in our Climate Action Plan. We submit an annual greenhouse gas report through SIMAP, the official partner reporting tool of the Climate Commitment, detailing everything from how much natural gas we consume to the nitrogen content in our fertilizer. It gives us concrete, current data on where we are excelling and where we lag, driving focus and priority initiatives.
We have made huge strides in reducing emissions from energy consumption on campus - over a 40% reduction - and have seen great progress in waste reduction. In other categories, including University Travel and Food related emissions, we're still in the early stages, working on building data robust enough to benchmark.
All community members are welcome to access our SIMAP reports and help keep the university accountable on data collection and reporting. The public platform of SIMAP is new and historical data is still being transitioned. Because of this, some of W&L's benchmark numbers are not yet visible and net reduction to date is not currently listed. While the most recent report, with emissions per category is available, we thank you for your patience in accessing overall reduction numbers.