UT Makes Orange Green
This is the final installment in a three-part series for young alumni. In May we highlighted recycling. Last month, the focus was on the UT Make Orange Green campaign. This time we talk about the university’s efforts to go climate neutral.
Building on years of national environmental leadership, Make Orange Green is helping the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, take a major leap forward into the environmental future.
In December 2006, UT Knoxville joined the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. The commitment, signed by more than 500 institutions so far, means that the campus has officially set the goal that it will have no net impact on climate through carbon emissions.
It’s a big effort, and it will draw heavily on the work already underway. Since so much carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through the burning of coal at power plants, energy efficiency will be vital. In addition, UT Knoxville will continue to make purchases of renewable Green Power, which comes from clean sources like wind and solar.
The campus has already taken big steps on the path to climate neutrality. First, UT Knoxville provides subsidized bus transportation to all faculty, staff and students in partnership with Knoxville Area Transit – that takes cars off the road, and carbon out of the air. In addition, the campus takes part in the annual RecycleMania competition, which reduces waste across campus. Energy saving projects are taking place from one end of campus to the other, too.
This fall, the campus will submit a carbon inventory – in essence, a catalog of UT Knoxville’s climate impact – that was created as a senior thesis project by Leslie Chinery (Knoxville ’08). Building on that inventory, by next fall, the campus will submit its plan to go climate neutral. The effort won’t be quick or easy, but it will have a lasting impact not just on the campus or the state, but on the world. How’s that for making orange green?
