Recently the Sierra Club Falls of the James Group blog ran a cursory review of area colleges and universities. It basically cruised through school media to glean more information on environmental initiatives.

Of course the biggest, Virginia Commonwealth University, Oregon Hill’s neighbor to the north, received the treatment:

Checking On VCU…
I did not get a chance to go to Project Winterfood on Wednesday night, but I do want to commend it anyway. Graphic design students promote locally grown food and community, which is great for the environment. Click here for Commonwealth Times article.

VCU’s green initiative was discussed as part of student organization’s funding forum:

“SGA Vice President Roberto Celis introduced the university’s green initiative as another key priority. Celis said students, faculty and staff will have to make a behavioral change in order to reach the goals laid out in the President’s Climate Commitment.

Grant Matthews, a representative for the VCU Office of Sustainability, said the overall goal is to develop a climate action plan that will promote energy conservation and new projects.

Matthews said over the next 41 years, VCU should reach carbon neutrality.”

Note to VCU- 41 years is way too long. Click here for article.

In exciting news, VCU is looking at more solar-

“VCU’s Director of Sustainability Jacek Ghosh, said the state might fund the university for more solar projects on campus, which could lead to solar panels on parking garages.

“The final details are being negotiated,” Ghosh stated in an e-mail. “The Commonwealth of Virginia can be very slow in these matters.”

Late last summer, VCU installed a system of 30 solar panels on the MCV Campus Steam Plant, which provides steam power for heating and sterilization for much of the MCV Campus, the VCU Health System and nearby state and private office buildings in downtown Richmond.

This 6.6-kilowatt solar panel array helps VCU offset about 7,000 metric tons of carbon gases each year.

The solar panels on the MCV Campus Steam Plant were installed by City Space Solar, a renewable energy company that focuses on solar energy in residential and commercial construction.

VCU has installed two PV solar-powered trash compactors, the one at the Stuart C. Siegel Center helps manage waste after sporting, concert and other large-scale events.

The solar-powered trash compactors have five times the capacity of standard trashcans with fewer collections and up to 80-percent emissions reductions.

According to the BigBelly Web site, energy from the sun is the only new input Earth receives every day and it is free, silent and non-polluting. In 20 days, the sun provides the equivalent amount of energy that is contained in all of the coal, oil and gas reserves combined.

VCU has added the first solar thermal system to the historic Ginter House on Monroe Park Campus. The system reduces the building’s hot water CO2 emissions by 77 percent annually, which saves 13,400 KBTU, according to the Richmond By Solar Web site.”

Its worth remarking that as VCU has expanded further into what was historically Oregon Hill, residents have asked for VCU to go more green to help the LOCAL environment.

And like I said, its not just VCU. University of Richmond, Virginia Union, and even Richard Bland were also featured on the blog.

It’s also worth noting that this Wednesday is the Sierra Club Falls of the James Group’s annual holiday fundraiser at the Virginia Science Museum.