Unit 4: Higher Education...Saving Money by Going Green

In light of the cost disease in higher education, many college campuses are making a serious effort to contain costs and help with sustainability by "going green." While "going green" does help the environment, it also helps with budget issues in some higher education institutions.The University of Memphis highlights the efforts of its college community who do their part to help with the budget at U of M and with sustainability. In an article entitled, Green efforts gaining traction at university, Russell (2009) reports, "with the current budget crisis, something as simple as switching off a computer at night not only means a greener campus, it saves dollars."

Other efforts like this one, such as recycling ink and toner cartridges and paper, fuel an effort in the Higher and Adult Education Department at University of Memphis. This department participates in a program called "Office Depot Work Life;" this program gives the department store credit for any empty toner cartridges and paper, thereby reducing the out-of-pocket costs for office supplies. Now when the department needs supplies, it only has to access the credit that it has with Office Depot instead of extracting money from the already minuscule budget.

Various departments on this college campus report using email instead of paper, turning off computers and lights when not in use, employing the use of high output fluorescent lighting, and recycling old office equipment for a project called "electronics recycling day." The email instead of paper initiative and publishing publications online could save approximately 118,000 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper annually. This translates into savings in the higher education budget. Not to mention a "new Physical Plant computer-driven pumping system that was recently introduced [and] is expected to save the University more than $400,000 a year" (Russell, 2009). While these are just a few of the many cost saving efforts at the University of Memphis, the saving money by going green initiative is catching at other higher education institutions as well.

Russell, G. (2009). Green efforts gaining traction at university. Retrieved October 14, 2009,

from University of Memphis, http://www.memphis.edu/releases/feb09/green.htm