Sustainability at VLGS

Our campus sustainability plan project provides staff support to the VLGS Campus Sustainability Committee. On November 26th, 2012 Vermont Law and Graduate School’s President and Dean signed the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. As a signatory of this commitment, Vermont Law and Graduate School is now taking the necessary steps to implement a comprehensive plan toward climate neutrality.

To develop this plan, VLGS has established a Campus Sustainability Committee and retained the Institute for Energy and the Environment to assist the committee to develop and implement the Law School’s Campus Sustainability Plan. In addition to providing support to the committee, an IEE faculty member and a student research associate are members of the committee, along with representatives from Buildings and Grounds, the Campus Greening Committee, and the Office for Institutional Advancement. The committee has developed procedures for the VLGS Green Revolving Loan Fund and approved building efficiency, solar energy, and electric vehicle charging projects which are all at various stages of implementation.

Campus Sustainability Progress

  1. A greenhouse gas emissions inventory from the past two years, setting a baseline for future improvements.
  2. Short-term and long-term initiatives to reduce campus greenhouse gas emissions.
  3. A target date and anticipated milestones to become climate neutral.

As initial steps in developing the Campus Sustainability Plan, the Campus Sustainability Committee has:

  1. Developed a greenhouse gas inventory report.
  2. Assisted in the establishment of a Green Revolving Fund and adopted procedures to guide the fund.
  3. Created an initial project list and recommended projects for funding.
  4. Initiated the first project under the Green Revolving Loan Fund, including a 9.2 kW solar array and electric vehicle charging station.
  5. Held a campus sustainability forum to seek broad input from the student body and promote awareness of the ongoing processes.
  6. Developing a draft of our first campus sustainability plan.

Current generation from our campus solar projects:

  1. 500 kW Tunbridge solar array 
  2. 9 KW array at campus entrance 
  3. 23 KW array on-campus fitness center 

VLGS Green Revolving Loan Fund

The VLGS Green Revolving Fund has been established with an anonymous donation of $200,000plus a $50,000 contribution from the Vermont Law and Graduate School Board of Trustees. This initial fund balance of $250,000 has significantly advanced campus sustainability planning efforts and facilitated the implementation of numerous near-term campus sustainability projects. A current accounting of project status and fund balance can be found here

The VLGS community can submit ideas for GRLF funding by downloading the Project Proposal Form