Buildings and grounds

Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health are committed to creating a more sustainable built environment on campus. This includes building to U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, encouraging responsible energy use and upgrading fixtures to sustainable alternatives, VCU continues to strive to reduce its impact on the environment. 

24 LEED certified buildings

VCU and VCU Health have 24 LEED certified buildings, an independent verification of a building’s green features, allowing for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of resource-efficient, high-performing, healthy and cost-effective buildings. VCU is committed to reducing its environmental footprint by building and renovating facilities to a minimum of the LEED Silver standards. 

Solar

Solar installations are present throughout the Monroe Park and MCV Campuses, including: 

  • N Parking Deck on the MCV Campus has a 710 PV panel array that enables an annual energy savings of 184,000 kWh and a greenhouse gas reduction of 100 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCDE).
  • West Broad Street Parking Deck with a 780 PV panel array on the Monroe Park Campus, one of the largest university arrays in Virginia. It has an output of 179.4 kW DC, an annual energy savings of 200,000 kWh and an annual greenhouse gas reduction of 115 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The parking deck also has three pole-mounted dual-axis solar PV trackers that provide an annual output of 3.6 kW DC each contributing to an annual energy savings of 24,000 kWh and a greenhouse gas reduction of 15 MTCDE each.
  • Shafer Court Dining Center is outfitted with a 750 gallon solar thermal domestic hot water heater that provides an annual energy savings of 20,987 therms and a greenhouse gas reduction of 111 MTCDE. This solar water heater is able to provide about half of the hot water needs at Shafer Court. The solar PV and solar hot water heaters help VCU reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 371 MTCDE.

Reducing stormwater runoff

VCU is beginning to employ strategies to reduce stormwater runoff buildings and grounds and protect the James River. This includes converting an approximately 4,000 square foot hillside south of Cary St. field into an urban meadow with native plantings that will provide habitat for insects and birds, a collaboration between VCU Sustainability and VCU Grounds. 

Rain garden

The Grace E. Harris Hall Rain Garden, promoted by the student organization Green Unity for VCU, the garden planting provided an opportunity for students to help “green” the VCU campus. The rain garden contains flowering species native to Virginia and serves as a small oasis of natural beauty in the middle of campus for students to gather and enjoy.

The rain garden reduces the pollution flowing into the James River by reducing stormwater runoff. As rainwater flows across roads, sidewalks and other impervious surfaces, the runoff collects chemicals, fertilizers and other pollutants. The rain garden captures the runoff from impervious or paved surfaces that would normally drain into the James River and Chesapeake Bay. The plants absorb the runoff, where toxins and sediments are filtered and retained in the soil, therefore reducing the amount of runoff making its way downstream. 

Bayscaping

The Bayscape Landscaping (bayscaping) at the Trani Center for Life Sciences is conservation landscaping that benefits wildlife, the James River and the Chesapeake Bay. This type of landscaping uses native plants to reduce the quantity of stormwater runoff, filter pollutants and reduce landscape maintenance costs at VCU.

Bayscaping also reduces the amount of time needed to care for a landscape since all of the plants are locally adapted, reduces the amount of water used for irrigation, and the use of chemical fertilizers. Bayscapes in the Chesapeake Bay watershed also help improve the water quality of local streams, the James River, the Chesapeake Bay and the local wildlife habitat.

Urban Gardens

The Urban Gardens Program provides community members with opportunities to learn about and participate in seasonal growing and organic gardening practices. Additionally, the program helps alleviate food insecurity at VCU, as all produce grown is donated to the VCU Ram Pantry, an on-campus food pantry supporting VCU students in-need. 

VCU Community Forestry

The Community Forestry Program partners with local community organizations in and around Richmond to plan and implement tree planting projects, provide tree maintenance, and estimate tree benefits. Through this program, VCU engages with local communities to support and elevate urban forestry practices that provide a variety of benefits, including mitigating urban heat islands, providing habitat for urban wildlife and reducing stormwater runoff.

Residence halls

VCU Residential Life and Housing works to continually improve sustainability in the residence halls by striving be more sustainable by:

  • Utilizing single stream recycling in all residence halls, with recycling bins located on each floor in each residence hall
  • Offering front-load, high-efficiency washing machines in all 9-month residence halls, which reduce the amount of water used and detergent necessary
  • Using eco-friendly housekeeping chemicals, when possible
  • Installing low-flow and motion-sensor-activated fixtures 
  • Providing water bottle filling stations 
  • Holding VCU Free Store donation drives at the end of each semester to collect school supplies, appliances and household items
  • Building new residence halls to LEED Silver certification to include:
    • Low-flow water fixtures (toilets, urinals, showers, and bathroom and kitchen sinks) 
    • High-efficiency washing machines 
    • Low-emitting paints and coatings 

Green roofs

VCU has green roofs, vegetation planted on top of a waterproofing system installed on a roof, on various buildings across campus, including the VCU Rice Rivers Center, Pollak Building, Academic Learning Commons, the Honors College and the Institute for Contemporary Art. Green roofs offer many benefits, including:

  • Reduced heat island effect, due to the cooling effect of the green roof plants
  • Reduced stormwater volumes, resulting from the rainwater-retention capacity of the plants and soil
  • Reduced stormwater flow rates, resulting from the ability of the system to slow the flow of heavy rains through the system
  • Reduced energy use, due to improved insulating characteristics of the system
  • New wildlife habitat, primarily for insects and birds
  • New passive recreational space, accessible to the entire VCU community