Emory & Henry Renovated Building Gets ‘Green’ Light

EMORY, Va. – The formal opening Wednesday of the renovated Byars Hall at Emory & Henry College marked more than providing a new home for the college’s arts division.

The $7 million remodel was also a first step in the effort to reduce Emory & Henry’s carbon footprint – the impact the campus has on the production of greenhouse gases.

“We must make sustainable design a part of every building construction project, and I have said that from the day I came on campus [two years ago],” E&H President Rosalind Reichard, said at the building’s opening ceremony Wednesday evening.

“I think we can be very proud of Byars Hall for lots of reasons and certainly for it being an important step in the right direction in terms of the environment, and I do think Emory & Henry is leading the way.”

Last year, Reichard signed the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, a pledge to reduce net emissions blamed for global warming.

She said one step toward meeting the goal is a policy that all new construction and major renovation projects on campus will be done with the intention of earning “green building” certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Byars already has basic LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building System) certification, Reichard said. The designation is based on sustainable site development, water saving, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

The completed renovation of Byars Hall includes a major three-story addition and facilities specific to the arts, as well as restoration of literary society rooms that once played a major role in campus life in the 116-year-old original building.

According to information provided by the U.S. Green Building Council, just two other buildings in far Southwest Virginia are LEED certified: the Wilderness Road State Park Visitors Center in Lee County and an industrial building in Wytheville. Byars is the third.

Reichard said the hope is Wiley Hall, the college administration building under renovation, will also earn the certification as well as the planned Woodrow W. McGlothlin Center for the Arts, a $12 million, 40,000-square-foot building now in the design phase.

Ed Davis, director of the environmental studies program and chairman of the Climate Working Group for the college, said building “green” will be a significant step toward achieving carbon neutrality.

He said the college has produced about 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in the past year and only 150 tons of that amount are offset by growth in the 50 forested acres owned by the college.

He said if all buildings on campus were “green” buildings, it could cut the annual campus energy bill – more than $700,000 in the last fiscal year – by more than 20 percent, while also cutting out 800 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

According to an analysis of the campus carbon footprint, purchased electricity is the single largest contributor. The second largest factor is transportation, primarily the 200,000 gallons of gas used by students, faculty and staff to commute. Third is the steam plant, which burned 1,000 tons of coal to heat the campus last year.

Davis said with a year to develop a plan to for becoming carbon neutral, the college is looking at various solutions, from buying green energy to producing it right here, on the 300 acres the college owns around Interstate 81’s Exit 26.

Ideas range from solar water heating systems for small dormitories to a large array of solar panels that would sit above the cattle grazing on Emory & Henry’s pasture.

“It would probably cost several million dollars, but if you think about not having to buy electricity year after year, ... it would pay for itself,” Davis said.

“The fact that we own that much land and it’s right by the interstate, we really have an opportunity for being a model,” he continued. “I would like people passing on the Interstate to see renewable energy systems.”

He said there could be a role for sustainable business to play in development in the area around Exit 26 – but primarily he thinks the prime location of college land as “a sustainability opportunity” – and he said it would be “un-Christian” not to act on it.

The economic shift that would take place if other institutions also invested in becoming “carbon neutral” would have a many benefits, Davis said, from cost savings and healthier lives to less dependency on fossil fuels, which would equal a more stable economy and political system.

“We had other economies that we shifted away from, like the horse economy,” he said. “Did that ruin the economy? People were really frightened of the car.”

Reichard said a green building often costs 5 to 10 percent more to construct, but the added cost is typically recouped within five years of energy savings.

“If you’re being careful with your energy, you end up saving money,” she said. “All of this costs money, but in the long run this will save us money and with the added bonus of providing a better environment for our children and grandchildren.”

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