October 17, 2008
Good morning. It’s an honor to be with you again today. I hope that you are finding your time with us enjoyable as well as informative.
Virginia Tech is delighted to be your university host for the 18th annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference.
Before I go on, I want to thank our many partners who have helped to put together this conference. Many of them are represented here, and all are listed in your program book. They have allowed you to make this a forum of great depth and breadth, and we hope you will thank them as the opportunity arises.
The scope of issues being addressed during this conference, and the number of you who have come together from business, government, and education as well as journalism is truly impressive.
Clearly, today we face environmental issues of unprecedented scale and complexity. Addressing these challenges will require new, innovative technologies, landuse patterns, and sources of energy. We also must devise new ways of thinking about the resources we consume, about the world we live in, and about how we live in harmony on and with our planet.
This is the major challenge facing humanity. It deserves and will require all of our best efforts.
I believe that Virginia Tech is well known for its excellence and leadership in a number of environmental areas. In fact, the broad field including energy, materials and the environment is one of the four areas that we have identified as a key priority in our Strategic Plan.
At Virginia Tech, we have more than 200 faculty directly involved in about 300 research endeavors centering on environmental issues — ranging from bio-fuels created from renewable resources, to hybrid vehicles, to the psychology of changing our lifestyles to better protect our planet.
We are determined to continue forging new ideas, new science, and new partnerships that will benefit people in Virginia and across this nation.
Virginia Tech researchers – and students – are working to move technology from our campus into communities, where it can be put to use to improve the economy and people’s quality of life.
For example, Virginia Tech computer scientists have developed software that can save computer data centers millions of dollars by reducing energy usage by as much as 20 percent. These data centers around the globe are expected to use about $60 billion of energy next year. A spin-off company in our Corporate Research Center is working to bring this new software product to market, with a goal not only to reduce energy use, but also to improve the reliability and useful life of data center computers.
We have a tradition of using such knowledge and advanced research to address societal issues. To this end, we are proud of our work in extending environmental education and helping secure the nation’s food supply.
Our efforts also include working to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen pollution in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed; protecting soil and water resources; reclaiming surfacemined lands; and preserving the populations of horseshoe crabs that are vital to the medical world.
Our scientists – and students – are engaged in numerous research projects – from hydrogen cells to cellulosic bio-fuel production, and from hybrid vehicles to solar homes – focused on this area of exploration.
Just a word about our national award-wining Solar Home project: We are one of just a handful of universities that have participated in the last two Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competitions, and that have been invited todo so again next year.
By expanding this and similar projects, we can develop revolutionary new concepts to provide for the world’s energy requirements in a sustainable fashion.
An intriguing example is work by Biological Sciences Engineers in our College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who are developing technologies that could convert what is now considered agricultural waste into value-added products.
They have developed a process and equipment to convert poultry litter — the mixture of sawdust and droppings under the cages — into several useful products while solving a waste disposal problem.
The process produces a bio-oil that can be used in diesel engines. Another part of the process forms a substance that can be used to make an adhesive, and the final residue becomes a slow-release fertilizer, which allows better control of nutrient release and reduces the risk of pollution .
We cannot – and are not – merely waiting on new technologies to solve our problems. We have made commitments and are taking steps today that will help preserve our air, soil and water.
Sustainability is a priority at Virginia Tech. We are committed to making our campus more energy efficient and sustainable. To every extent possible, we are doing what wecan to ensure that University facilities are designed, constructed, renovated, operated, and maintained in accordance with the latest energy and water efficiency standards and in a manner consistent with the Green Building Council’s LEED systems.
We also have integrated a number of sustainability standards -- such as interlocking walkable districts and stormwater management concepts -- into our Campus Master Plan.
We have spent millions of dollars on upgrades for our central steam plant, utilizing clean-coal technology and thereby greatly reducing emissions. Additional upgrades to our steam distribution system will result in over $1 million in annual fuel savings and provide further reductions in emissions – about 10 tons a year less.
On a larger scale, Virginia Tech is a founding partner with Hannon Armstrong and Pepco Energy Services in the $500 million “Energy Efficiency Partnership of Greater Washington,” retrofitting hundreds of publicly and privatelyowned
buildings.
For much of this morning, we will be having sessions on coal, so let me mention our Center for Advanced Separation Technology, which promises to help remediate abandoned coal sites while producing a clean-burning fuel from coal remains.
Dr. Yoon, the director of the center, has spent about 30 years researching this technology, and it is now being used commercially around the world. He is scheduled to present his work to you as part of the tours of our campus tomorrow.
I could talk a great deal more about what we are doing and plan to do in the environmental arena, but with an eye on the time, I’ll just say that we are committed to moving forward, to being a leader, and to helping solve these challenges.
We will continue to forge new science and new partnerships that will benefit not only the citizens of Virginia, but those across the nation and beyond. We look forward to working with all of you as we pursue answers to our environmental challenges.
Thank you.