The University of Utah and Brigham Young University both push sustainability measures on their campuses, but BYU steers away from adopting official green policies.
BYU does not commit itself to environmentalist motives, but instead tries to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices.
“We’ve established an environment of sustainability,” said Todd Hollingshead, a spokesman for BYU.
As an example, Hollingshead said, new building renovations and expansions on campus are not certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, but architects designed new buildings to have larger windows to reduce energy needs and included energy-efficient dishwashers, ovens and deep fryers in a new student commons area.
“It depends on your definition of environmentally friendly,” he said. “We focus on energy efficiency.”
The energy used by the approximately 38,000 people who commute to the U is a significant portion of the campus’s carbon footprint. Since U President Michael Young signed the commitment to a climate-neutral campus in April, the U has tried to discourage single-passenger car commutes.
“Our efforts to encourage alternative forms of transportation have been very effective,” said Alma Allred, director of the U’s Commuter Services.
The U’s incentives include new internal bike lanes on campus, increased bicycle parking, campus design plans to reduce campus parking and Utah Transit Authority public transit passes for all students, faculty and staff. Allred said he estimates about 14,000 U commuters used an alternative form of transportation this year.
BYU requires students to live within two miles of campus, making commuting almost a non-issue. When the university instituted the policy three years ago, 93 percent of students already lived within that radius.
“We want BYU to be a walking campus,” said Police Lt. Greg Barber, who manages BYU’s Parking Services.
In addition to the proximity requirement to encourage walking, BYU locates parking lots on the periphery of campus, congregates bicycle parking rather than providing racks in front of every building, prohibits bicycle riding during class breaks because of high foot traffic on campus walkways and offers free parking permits.
“When we went to free parking permits, I received a lot of calls from people calling me an environment hater, because I was encouraging driving,” Barber said.
Two thousand fewer students registered for parking permits since the university began this offer. Barber said he also noticed that popular parking lots are filling up early and staying full throughout the day, which is limiting the daily traffic.
“We saw a reduction among our students in the miles driven in Utah Valley,” he said.
Barber said he estimates that of the 17,000 parking stalls available, between 2,000 and 3,000 remain empty most of the day. Commuters instead flood the popular lots close to the library and the center of campus.
BYU provided free UTA passes to its student body three years ago, similar to the U’s current program, with the intent of reducing the number of vehicle on campus.
“But they bring their cars anyway,” Barber said. He said he attributes this to a shortage of evening and weekend bus service.
BYU charges about $5 per month for a transit pass, which is significantly lower than the standard rate of $74.50 per month.
The U includes the price of a UTA Ed-Pass in every student’s fees, but the price averages out to under $5 for the year, Allred said.