Employees at the University of Victoria tending the green roof
Chosen as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2011:
By Kristina Leung and Richard Yerema, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editor
(
Apr 20, 2011)
Some of the reasons why University of Victoria was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers (2011):
maintains an "Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability" that works closely with students, faculty, employees and the community to ensure that sustainability is incorporated into the decision making process
recently developed a unique system to reuse wastewater from a fisheries research laboratory and recirculating for use in toilets and urinals -- the pioneering initiative involved all three levels of government as well as the regional water authority and is now being extended to additional campus facilities
when complete the new system will save over 10 million liters of potable water each year -- the University has also set a goal to reduce water consumption by 25% through additional conservation measures
recently established a standard that all new on-campus building construction must meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification and half of all new renovation projects must be registered in the LEED rating system
the campus introduced a green cleaning program back in 2002, moving to environmentally friendly cleaning products which meet (or exceed) the "Green Seal" and other certification initiatives
has an ongoing program to convert old traditional lawns into native plant demonstration gardens, eliminating the need for fertilizers, reducing water demand and attracting birds and insects that are beneficial to the local ecosystem
in addition to extensive recycling and food compost programs, the University maintains compost drop stations where employees, students and visitors can drop an extensive range of "non-recyclables" for recycling and proper disposal -- the University has set the goal to divert 75% of waste from the landfill by 2012
towards meeting carbon neutrality goals, the school is aiming to reduce electricity consumption by 20% by the year 2015, increase its investments in renewable energy production, and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% (over a baseline year of 2007) by the year 2015
the University continues to replace fossil fuel burning vehicles in its fleet with a variety of electric, hybrid and bio-diesel powered vehicles (as well as bicycles) -- with fossil fuel vehicles representing only 40% of the fleet
This Employer Review has been viewed 12,296 times.
