The Green Standard

Despite its traditional colors, Harvard is apparently one of the greenest schools in the nation, according to the Princeton Review’s “2010 Green Rating Honor Roll” published this past July. Along with 14 other schools, Harvard received the top score of 99 according to green-rating criteria developed by the Princeton Review and ecoAmerica, a non-profit environmental organization. That recognition has drawn much deserved attention to the abundance of green initiatives taking off at the university.

Many improvements, both large and small, can be found on campus these days. Following last year’s recycling efforts, which gave the university a 55 percent recycling rate that put it at the top of the Ivy League, the university is continuing to pursue numerous waste-reduction strategies. New on campus are the new solar-powered Big Belly trash and recycling compactors, which fill up far less quickly than non-compacting receptacles and reduce the incentive to litter that overflowing trash cans often provide. Recycling has also been incorporated at the Fly-By lunch station beneath Annenberg, now featuring special receptacles for cartons and other recyclable waste.

In light of the current economic climate, the university has done an admirable job of tying the goals of sustainability with cost-cutting imperatives. The heating decrease of two degrees implemented last year within residential suites not only represented an energy-conscious move but also helped the university significantly cut its budget deficit for this fiscal year.

Energy and cost-saving measures are at the heart of Harvard’s new Green Building Guidelines, which govern the construction of buildings costing over $5 million to insure they meet a set of sustainability benchmarks. Harvard now has 20 building projects certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating systems, the most of any institution of higher education in the world. Three have also gone on to earn the highest distinction of a special Platinum certification in recognition of their superior sustainability standards.

The university should be commended for making the far-sighted decision to continue aggressively pursuing green initiatives, even while dealing with a budget deficit and other serious financial issues. Seeing these projects through will offer both financial and environmental paybacks that benefit Harvard and its community for the long term.