Source: Oakton.edu

By Carol Brzozowski

After students at Yale University complained about the increasing energy consumption caused by leaky windows and chimneys, the Ivy created an Office of Sustainability in 2005 to address ecosystem protection and encourage water conservation, recycling, and use of locally grown products in university dining facilities. Yale’s president, Richard C. Levin, directed the school to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 10 percent below the University’s 1990 level by 2020. In the first two years of its “green” program, Yale reduced carbon emissions by 43,000 metric tons, a 17 percent reduction from 2005 levels.

But online learning, which enables students to log on and learn without stepping foot on campus, has even more potential to save energy, proponents say.

“While online courses provide obvious benefits of schedule flexibility and convenience, they also provide less obvious ‘green’ benefits,” says Rob Franek, vice-president and publisher and lead author of “Best 368 Colleges.” Anytime a student reduces energy use by less driving and less climate control requirements, we call benefit in terms of sustaining our global resources.”

Staying home to heal the earth

“Online education and telecommuting both do far more for the planet than recycling paper or carpooling,” says Michal Ann Strahilevitz, Ph.D., a Nagel Miner-chaired professor with the marketing department of San Francisco-based Golden Gate University.

“If you study from home, you cut down on fuel consumption by driving less,” she says. “You also cut down on traffic, leading those that do drive to spend less time stuck in traffic - also good for the earth. Time and commuting costs are saved, stress is reduced, and the big bonus is anything that causes us to drive less is very good for the planet.”

Jeff Kart would agree. The Bay City, Michigan environmental journalist sought a way to get a Master’s degree in environmental science, but was discouraged by what could have been at least a 45-minute drive to do so.

He found what he sought through the University of Illinois-Springfield Environmental Studies program, which enables him to not only earn an online degree, but also maintain a full-time job and meet other students from throughout the world, all while helping to save the planet. With gas prices nearly $3.50 a gallon in Bay City, he says he’s saving money and greenhouse gas emissions by not having to commute to school each week.

Paper pinching and electricity eliminating

Paper savings are another benefit of online learning. At Penn State World Campus, the online school ceased paper catalog production, relying solely on an online course catalog.

“In a one-year period, we had 3,962 downloads and probably saved some trees in the process, too,” notes Matt Swayne, Penn State Outreach News Bureau representative. “A case could be made that online courses save on pollution from cars. Most of our students are adults who would probably [otherwise] commute to class.”

“In energy savings alone, [online learning] is vastly superior in every way,” notes Gregg Steiner, president of Green Life Guru, a Los Angeles-based environmental services company. “You’re still using electricity for computers, but it’s a far cry from what’s involved in a brick and mortar school versus online education.

“If you compare the two, with one you get in your car, put gas in it, everyone is traveling to the same location, and there’s probably traffic causing congestion and more pollution,” Steiner explains. Furthermore, “you sit down in a chair that had to be manufactured and are in a classroom that had to be built and that requires lighting, heating, or cooling. Then, there is all the paper needed for taking notes and all of the computers that are plugged in on location.”

In fact, utility costs for higher education increased 27.2 percent in 2006 in response to spiking fuel costs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to the Commonfund Institute, which calculates the Higher Education Price Index. Additionally, a survey from the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers revealed one-third of facility operating costs come from heating and cooling buildings, providing water, electricity and other energy and utility functions.

The energy consumption is “enormous” compared to simply being at home working on a laptop, says Steiner. It’s more efficient than a desktop and you’re “getting the same education you need,” he says.

“If I had to put a number on it, it’d probably be a 1:100 ratio in the difference in energy usage,” he adds.

Earth-saving solutions

Dr. Judy Walton, acting executive director for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education says that distance learning can be part of a “suite of solutions” in educational sustainability, “although there’s probably always going to be a need for physical classrooms and face-to-face meetings.

“[Distance learning] has potential and can be part of the solution for greenhouse gas reduction, especially avoiding travel and the need for physical classrooms,” Walton adds.

Like Yale, many higher education institutions are embracing “green” practices as integral to the learning experience. Case in point: The Princeton Review - which produces resources to help students choose the college best for them - plans to add a “green rating” to 600 of the college profiles in its annual college guides.

Lee Bodner, executive director of ecoAmerica, an environmental nonprofit consumer research and marketing company that collaborated with The Princeton Review’s ‘Green Rating” efforts, says from an environmental standpoint, distance learning goes far in eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.

“Anywhere between 15 and more than 50 percent of all college campus’ greenhouse gas pollution comes from transportation; if you factor in campus buildings, that’s even more,” he says. “We all expect we’re going to be regulating greenhouse gas pollution over the next couple of years. That will ultimately drive people to look for alternate ways to cut down on pollution and offer more incentive to look at distance learning, with transportation being a big driver.”