Conference highlights VCU green initiatives

Katelyn Boone
Staff Writer

Students, sponsors and business representatives opened a forum for discussion on sustainable energy efforts in manufacturing, health care, higher education, commercial real estate and other fields at VCU’s Energy and Sustainability Conference last week.

The conference was used as a forum for discussion about sustainability, said Jacek Ghosh, the director of sustainability at VCU.  Sixteen Virginia universities were represented at the conference, including James Madison University, George Mason University, University of Virginia and University of Richmond.

One of the breakout sessions of the conference was a student-led forum where colleges shared success stories and research projects pertaining to campus energy and sustainability efforts.

Margeau Graybill, an environmental science junior from VCU shared, “How to Change Your World in Two Semesters,” a presentation detailing her team’s journey to install solar tubes in the Trani Life Sciences and Hibbs building. Solar tubes are reflective tubes that are installed like a skylight, but act as a kind of reflective periscope that brings sunlight directly into a room; they require no additional power after installation.

VCU displayed its Micro Grid Power Management Technology during the conference, a system that calculates the energy usage of every electrical outlet in the School of Engineering’s West Hall.

It was installed last year and is funded by Dominion Power for the next five years. The system tracks electricity consumed through the wall plugs. In addition, it can control and manipulate electrical output in order to reduce kilowatts per hour consumed, according to Sean Brasch, a staff mechanical engineer at the VCU Physical Plant. The physical plant provides maintenance services for the university, including monitoring energy. The university expects to save $20,000 in energy costs from this project.

Ed Bennett, the executive director for the Physical Plant and deputy for Facilities Management, said VCU’s presence at the conference would continue to raise the value of VCU’s brand and commended the university for their approach to going green.

“VCU’s approach to energy and sustainability has been to be prudent, meaning we have not chased after every new idea or bought every new piece of equipment,” Bennett said. “Rather we have studied and investigated ideas and made sure we understood all the benefits and potential risks.”

VCU has shown their commitment to growing green through other projects such as electric trucks for waste management, bike racks, recycle bins, solar trash compactors and all new buildings will be built to meet Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) high standards. LEED is a company that provides third-party verification of green buildings.

Additionally, VCU’s Climate Action Plan, signed in 2008, details its goal to become completely carbon neutral by 2050.