Green in the Papers

Rowan University gets greener
Courier-Post: Thursday, April 5, 2007

Rowan University just got a little bit greener.

Rowan has signed a pledge to significantly reduce global-warming emissions on campus.

"We cannot depend on manufacturers alone to reduce global-warming emissions," Rowan President Donald Farish said.

"Colleges and universities, in many cases, are like small cities. We have a responsibility to address the issue of global warming both in our curriculum as well as in our practices. We must lead by example."

Farish was among the 148 college presidents nationwide who signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. So far, Rowan is the only New Jersey university to sign the pledge.

Under the agreement, each college has two years to develop a plan to significantly reduce carbon emissions.

"We've already been doing this for a while," Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona said. "This is really a big jump. What we're committing to doing is accelerating the process."

Last year, even before the agreement was signed, Rowan placed third in a national collegiate waste-minimization competition by reducing waste through recycling.

The university is also in the process of getting 25 percent of its energy from wind power. When the plan goes into effect late this summer, Rowan expects to save $1 million a year, facilities director John Imperatore said.

"Yes, there are some savings, but the biggest benefit is environmental," Imperatore said. "By investing in this, we are cleaning the air, or doing our part, anyway."

The school is now conducting an inventory of all the greenhouse emissions it produces and developing a plan to reduce them.

Rowan has 10,000 students, 3,000 of whom live on campus, 1,300 employees and its own power plant.

"We'll look at everything from the types of lights that are above your head to what we can do to make our vehicles more fuel efficient," Cardona said. "We have to take a close look at how we're spending energy and generating emissions on campus."

The pledge is in keeping with Gov. Jon Corzine's executive order to reduce greenhouse emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and 89 percent by 2050, Cardona said.

"Climate change will be the defining challenge of the 21st century," New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability director John Cusack said. "Higher-education institutions must take a leadership role in managing this major societal and environmental risk through education, research and through its own actions. Rowan should be commended for its efforts."

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