Sustainability is about more than recycling at top colleges

One Indiana school is not only drilling its students on academics, but it’s also drilling holes in its campus to tap geothermal energy. A Vermont college is into burning wood chips as a way to save money.

What they share is a passion for environmental sustainability — operating in a way that uses renewable fuels and tries to save money in the process. Interest in sustainability is particularly strong on college campuses.

Princeton Review, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, is out this week with its 2012 Guide to 322 Green Colleges and finds in a separate survey that 68% of more than 7,000 college applicants told them that a college’s commitment to the environment would play a role in their decision to apply to or attend that school. The guide can be downloaded at princeton-review.com.greenguide or centerforgreenschools.org/greenguide.

Further, the number of projects on campuses that have earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, a testament to their environmental attributes, has surpassed the total number of colleges.

“Universities are spending a good amount of time assessing each of their buildings and ... which should be prioritized for an energy-efficient upgrade,” says Jaime Van Mourik, director of higher education at the Center for Green Schools at the private Green Building Council, which runs the LEED program.

Here’s a look at a handful of colleges that have gone the extra mile in sustainability: