By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

Chapel Hill -- Last spring, a team of students at UNC found more than 150 courses related to sustainability.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Holden Thorp said he would like to see more such courses on campus to prepare students for the abundant opportunities efforts in sustainability will eventually bring.

"I would like to see, and I'm sure we will see that number grow," Thorp said in remarks he made as part of Campus Sustainability Day. "Just as IT and multimedia have become tools that are used by people across all disciplines, I think that sustainability is a core critical thinking skill that will permeate almost all that we do."

Thorp added that sustainability efforts will be critical in helping to revive America's ailing economy.

"It's going to take the creativity and optimism and skills that our students have," Thorp said. "Jobs related to sustainability are going to be an important way that we're going to revitalize our economy and make our world more sustainable."

Because of rain showers, the event was moved into the Great Hall at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Before making his remarks, Thorp received the biennial campus sustainability report from Cindy Pollock Shea, director of UNC's Sustainability Office.

Thorp urged students to read the report.

"This is something that we can all be proud of and the more we know about what's in here, the more we'll be able to infuse sustainability into the way we do things everyday."

Shea said Campus Sustainability Day helps raise awareness about sustainability initiatives across campus. She said it also helps stimulate and encourage those who are not actively engage in those efforts to become motivated to do so.

And the celebration has an added benefit for students, Shea said.

"The students, a lot of times they have the passion for sustainability, but they don't necessarily recognize that it's a professional opportunity," Shea said. "We want students to be aware of all the different facets of sustainability and the opportunities."

Daniel Arneman, the UNC greenhouse gas emissions specialist who helped to prepare the university's Climate Action Plan that was submitted to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment in September, said Campus Sustainability Day gives people working on the sustainability effort a chance to share.

"I think so much of what happens goes on behind the scenes," Arneman said. "This is our chance to share with the university."

Highlights of the 2009 report include:

- UNC's award of federal stimulus funding to create an Energy Frontier Research Center focused on the next generation of photovoltaic cells and solar fuels.

- The university dedication of a new reclaimed water system, which helped it win a national award for water reuse.

- The new Education Center at the North Carolina Botanical Garden is expected to be the first public building in the state to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification, the highest level of certification for green architecture.

- Carolina submission of its Climate Action Plan with a strategy for achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

- UNC receiving an A- on the campus sustainability report card issued by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, the highest grade given this year.

Sustainability by the numbers at UNC

- 48 percent -- Energy savings projected at the new Botanical Garden Education Center.

- 39 percent -- Undergraduate students who study abroad.

- 38 percent -- Campus discards recycled into products of value.

- 27 percent -- Reduction in potable water use per square foot since fiscal year 2003.

- 21 percent -- Food purchased by Carolina Dining Services that comes from producers within 150 miles of campus.

- 19 percent -- MBA students who graduate with a concentration in sustainable enterprise.

- 8 percent -- Reduction in energy use per square foot since fiscal year 2003.

- 16 -- The number of UNC Chapel Hill employees who are Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professionals, a designation awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.

- 160 -- The number of structural stormwater best management practices, e.g., green roofs, cisterns, infiltration beds, permeable pavement parking lots.

- 311 -- The number of acres of the new Carolina North campus that will be put into a conservation easement.

- 600 -- The number of low-income students who have graduated debt free because of the Carolina Covenant.

- 569,195 -- The metric tons of CO2 equivalent emitted annually by UNC.

- 1,000,000+ -- The gallons of reclaimed water used daily at campus cooling towers during the summer.

- 7,500,000 -- The number of rides taken annually on Chapel Hill Transit's farefree buses.

- $17,500,000 -- The amount awarded to the new Solar Energy Research Center.

- $82,514,372 -- The campus energy bill in fiscal year 2009.

- $716,274,113 -- The amount of external research funding received in fiscal year 2009 -- double the amount received in fiscal year 1999.