Powering one of the largest universities in the country sounds like an environmentalist’s worst nightmare.
But if ASU’s “green” walk really matches its sustainability talk, that nightmare will turn into a dream come true.
ASU announced a Carbon Neutrality Action Plan on Friday, which will lead the University down the path to cancel out its carbon footprint within the next two-and-a-half decades.
The plan targets four areas — energy, solid/water waste, sustainable management practices and transportation — with the ultimate goal of mitigating 100 percent of emissions from the first three areas by 2025. Transportation is set to follow by 2035.
At ASU, energy accounted for 75 percent of emissions in FY07 — 20 percent came from transportation, according to the carbon neutrality plan. With a student, staff and faculty population of 81,000, powering ASU is not cheap.
Getting to a net zero carbon footprint may seem like a lofty goal, but the University already has a head start. The Biodesign Institute touts its title as the first platinum-level LEED-certified building in Arizona, meeting qualifications set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Tempe campus also generates enough energy from solar panels to run 4,600 computers, or 7 percent of the campus’ energy needs.
ASU is smack dab in the middle of the Valley of the Sun, so moving away from fossil fuel and coal to solar power is a no-brainer. The University is the perfect entity to take a leading role in alternative power in this region.
But achieving carbon neutrality isn’t only dependant on large investments like solar energy.
It comes at a much cheaper price to individuals.
You may think the environment is nowhere near a top priority, or you may be a “do you have a minute for the environment” person — either way it takes almost no effort to make an ecological impact and it will likely save you money in the short and long term.
If just 50 staff members or students used public transit instead of driving three days a week, it would save more than 50,000 gallons of gas annually, according to carbonzero.asu.edu.
At $2.25 a gallon, that’s $112,500 saved. (That may be almost enough to pay for a year of school if ASU keeps on its current tuition-raising trajectory…)
Small things like recycling a water bottle (or better yet, refilling one) are not hard to do. It’s as easy as recognizing a triangle.
Recycling bins are everywhere on campus, usually within feet of trash cans — why not take the step to recycle a soda can? And on the same note, why contaminate a recycling bin with messy trash when a garbage can is right next to it?
Simply turning off your computer or unplugging toasters will lower your electricity bill and make it easier for you to breathe clean air 30 years from now.
Even The State Press’ hard copy is on 100 percent recycled post-consumer waste paper, printed with vegetable-based ink by industry leaders in “green” printing. You can also read us on the Web at statepress.com.
Every step within the University community brings us closer to a cleaner world.
As much as ASU is making us sick with tuition proposals, we can appreciate that it is finally backing up its sustainability-related word vomit with a legitimate action plan.
