Green RFP program supports student-led sustainability projects
Proposals are now being accepted for Virginia Tech’s Green RFP program.
Now in its fourth year, the program encourages students and student groups to submit proposals for funding campus sustainability projects that support Virginia Tech’s Climate Action Commitment. Preference will be given to proposals will produce tangible savings and those that require one-time rather than ongoing support.
Funded proposals will be announced in early 2014.
Proposals are due Oct. 18. A letter describing the program and the application process and the application may be found online.
In the first three years of the Green RFP program, 22 projects totaling more than $156,000 have been funded and implemented. Projects have included the purchase of new bike racks, new low-flow shower heads for all residence hall showers, an irrigation system for the Smithfield Garden, additions to the Sustainable Garden at Kentland Farms, and new recycling containers for mixed paper, co-mingled containers, batteries, and ink cartridges.
“Student engagement is crucial to the university achieving goals in its sustainability plan,” said Denny Cochrane, Virginia Tech’s sustainability program manager. “The intent of the Green RFP program is to direct some existing university financial resources towards sustainability initiatives each year. We are thrilled that students have been so active in submitting proposals the last several years.”
The university’s Energy and Sustainability Committee will prioritize the top student proposals and will forward them to the Office of Budget and Financial Planning, which, along with the Office of Energy and Sustainability, will determine potential funding strategies and appropriate approvals.
“It’s great to see so many students stepping up and taking ownership over their campus with these projects,” said Emily Schosid, Virginia Tech’s campus sustainability planner. “Virginia Tech continues to show students that it genuinely supports its sustainability mission by supporting these projects.”
For information, email Denny Cochrane at the Office and Energy and Sustainability.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
