RADFORD – In its first year of participating in the Princeton Review Green Report Card 2009, Radford University was recognized for its campus-wide sustainability efforts with a rating of 88, which placed it atop its Big South Conference peers.

“Recognition of RU by the Princeton Review as a progressive place, environmentally, is an honor that will resonate with our student body and prospective students who are very mindful of the issues of sustainability and social responsibility,” said Dr. Dennis Grady, chair of RU’s Sustainability Steering Committee (SSC) and dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Studies.

The Princeton Review Green Report Card is a rating, on a scale of 60-99, that presents a comprehensive measure of a school’s performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution. Among its criteria, the Green Report Card measures the overall health and sustainability of student and campus quality of life and the environmental responsibility of a school’s policies.

The SSC, created in 2008 by President Penelope W. Kyle, is the catalyst for RU’s sustainability activities and is committed to making RU a model for sustainable practices and policies and earning recognition for stewardship of economic, social and environmental resources.

Among its sustainability initiatives, Radford:

• Has retrofitted older residence halls with high-tech energy-saving devices that shut off lights and heating/air-conditioning when rooms are unoccupied – measures that led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in December to award Energy Star certification to two residence halls;
• Fuels all buses and diesel grounds equipment with a biodiesel blend (B20);
• Utilizes six electric vehicles and one solar-electric vehicle;
• Employs a Building Automation System that includes equipment setbacks/shutdowns and cycling, ice storage and load shedding;
• Employs a Certified Energy Manager, Sustainability Coordinator, Recycling Coordinator, Recycling Technician and Sustainability Work Study position;
• Features tray-less cafeteria dining that lowers food waste by 25 to 30 percent and reduces the amount of water used by half a gallon per tray;
• Uses spring water for certain irrigation needs and several Green Seal products for housecleaning.

The SSC has also crafted policies to encourage recycling and ensure that all new construction and renovation capital projects be designed and built to achieve a minimum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver rating using the evaluation protocol published by the US Green Building Council.

“RU’s Princeton Review ranking really speaks well of the campus as a whole,” said Julio Stephens, sustainability coordinator. “It is a great recognition of the efforts made by people across campus in their sustainability activities.”

Among its 25-member peer group, RU’s 88-rating was seventh and the highest ranking among the schools in the Big South Conference.  UNC Asheville was the nearest conference competitor with an 85 rating and Appalachian State University – where Grady organized and chaired its sustainability taskforce until arriving at Radford in June 2008 – scored 98, the highest score in RU’s peer group.