2006年VOA标准英语-US University Promotes 'Green Campus'

By George Dwyer
Washington, DC
08 May 2006
 
watch Green Campus report

With energy prices rising rapidly these days, consumers, businesses and other energy users are looking for creative ways to cut costs. One of America's most prestigious¹ universities has come up with a novel approach by hiring a specialist to promote sustainable development on campus.

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Johns Hopkins University  
  

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland is considered one of America's most beautiful college campuses. But many of the old buildings could be made far more energy efficient, saving both money and precious natural resources.

Davis Bookhart is the newly-hired manager of Energy Management and Environmental Stewardship² at Hopkins. His job:  develop new initiatives to conserve³ water and electricity, encourage recycling, and reduce the University's "environmental footprint.” Bookhart says, "We can maintain a beautiful campus, and we can maintain all the great structures and buildings that we have, but we could also do it in a way that makes us more sustainable for the future.

Davis Bookhart  
  
We have a very large environmental impact because we use a lot of lights, we use energy, we have heating, and we use a lot of water. What we want to do is we want to minimize the mark we leave behind."

Mr. Bookhart says that to do that he will need to build coalitions⁴ with students, and faculty⁵ members like Bill Ball, Professor of Environmental Engineering.

Ball is impressed by the work done so far, "A person whose fulltime position is to think about these issues and have these visions and work with the students is just what we have needed."

Mr. Bookhart is full of ideas for modifying even the smallest energy-wasting systems on campus. "So what we can do is we can put a device in here that will sense whether or not people are coming through and are needing to use the machines in the middle of the night, and by putting in one of those devices that will probably help us save about may 30 to 50 percent on our electricity costs."

Green Roof   
  
Another idea is to convert rooftops here into so-called "Green Roofs." Green roofs are natural vegetative covers that help control storm water runoff and reduce energy use by insulating buildings from temperature extremes.

Ball explains the concept of green roof. "The concept of a green roof is to mitigate⁶ many of the environmental impacts that occur from the rooftops that are really part of the impermeable⁷ surfaces of cityscapes.

This entire scape here, this roofscape can turn into a garden essentially⁸ and be doing a lot of good."

 
Bill Ball 
  
Bookhart's energy savings⁹ projects also promise substantial economic benefits. The University saw its electric rate rise 36 percent last year, and anticipates an equivalent increase this year.

Ball agrees there will be an immediate¹⁰ benefit. "You know some of these sustainable activities and these energy efficiencies that we are looking for have a direct economic benefit to the University, and the University will immediately see the benefit of those."

What is happening at Johns Hopkins is beginning to be seen at other U.S. Universities as well, as campuses that always appeared green are about to become greener still.

1 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

2 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

3 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！

4 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。

5 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

6 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

7 impermeable   

adj.不能透过的，不渗透的

参考例句：

• The canoe is made from an impermeable wood.独木舟由防水木头制成。
• The external layer of the skin is relatively impermeable to water.皮肤的外层不透水。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

10 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。