Comments by Charles W. Steger, President

February 26, 2007

Thank you, Mike, and thanks to all of you for being with us today for the Deans’ Forum on the Environment.

I also want to thank the Deans and the other faculty who have worked so hard to put together this Forum.

          They have arranged an outstanding program, and I would urge you to take advantage of all the day has in store, including the poster sessions.

As you know, the area of energy, materials and the environment is one of the four main areas that we have identified as a key priority in Virginia Tech’s Strategic Plan.

These three fields --Energy, materials and the environment -- clearly are interwoven in ways that require intensive and multidisciplinary research – from psychology to technology to public policy.

The signs are everywhere  -- from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes report on global warming earlier this month, to efforts to clean up our own beautiful Chesapeake Bay.

In a few minutes, you will hear from Mr. Paul Gilman, former EPA assistant administrator for research and founding director of the Oak Ridge Center for Advanced Studies.  This is a new consortium of research universities, government, industry, and non-governmental organizations focused on critical issues with strong science and technology content.  And later today, David Paylor, director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, will speak.

Tonight, Robert Kennedy Jr. will cap the day’s events with his Keynote address. 

Last week, James R. Maughan, who leads a Center of Excellence in GE Energy for Controls and Power Electronics, spoke about new technologies being developed by General Electric.  And later this spring, we also will have James R. Schlesinger, the former U.S. Secretary of Energy; and Hans B. (Teddy) Püttgen, director of the Energy Center at the École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, here to speak.

We are indeed privileged, as well as extremely grateful, to have people of this stature share their perspectives and wisdom with us.  We will learn a great deal from them, but, I believe, we all recognize that speeches alone are not enough. 

Currently, here at Virginia Tech we have more than 200 faculty directly engaged in more than 275 research endeavors centering on environmental issues—ranging from bio-fuels from renewable resources, to hybrid vehicles, to the psychology of changing our lifestyles to better protect our planet.

Our students have produced award-winning hybrid vehicles, lowering petroleum use and emissions while preserving performance and utility, and an award-winning Solar House.  The technologies developed through such efforts will be critical to our future.

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.

We have integrated sustainability standards -- such as interlocking walkable districts, stormwater management concepts, and utility master planning -- into our recently updated Campus Master Plan.

          Starting next fall, the university’s central steam plant will be using 100% clean-coal technology.  Air emissions will be reduced by 40 tons per year in particulate matter and 350 tons per year in sulfur dioxide thanks to a recently completed $6 million boiler pollution control project. 

On-going capital upgrades – more than $28.75 million worth --  to the university’s steam distribution system and central plant will result in over $1 million in annual fuel savings, allow for year-round co-generation of electricity, and provide an additional reduction of 10 tons per year in nitrous oxide emissions.

The list goes on and on -- lighting efficiency projects, using meadow grasses on areas of campus to reduce stormwater runoff, and water conservation measures that can save more than 2 million gallons of water and water treatment annually. 

This Forum should take us further with its goals of enhancing our awareness of environmental issues and also building on our existing strengths to address the very significant environmental challenges that we face in the 21st Century.

Discovering new technologies is certainly a major focus, as are the accompanying planning and policy issues. They are interconnected and vitally important if we are to preserve and protect our environment.  

Today, Virginia Tech is a leading source for environmental research and policy.  With the renewed emphasis that this forum makes possible, 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.  

Through this Forum, Virginia Tech again is living up to its land-grant mission,  working to make critical new discoveries and also to move innovative technologies from campus into our communities where it can be put to use to improve the environment, the economy, and people’s quality of life. 

I could talk a great deal more about what we are doing and plan to do in the environmental arena, but you will have the opportunity throughout the day to see and hear that for yourselves.  As evidenced by our inclusion of environmental issues in our strategic plan and in our Campus Master Plan, we are committed to moving forward, to being a leader, and to helping solve these challenges.

Again, we are very pleased to welcome you to this important Forum, and we wish you a highly informative and productive day that will carry us forward in meeting our many environmental challenges.  Thank you.