The University of Wisconsin has strengthened its role in protecting the environment to ensure that we safeguard the quality of our air, water and land for future generations.

In a continuing effort to become more environmentally friendly, the campus has implemented a number of innovations aimed at cutting emissions, using resources more wisely and employing design and the latest technology to save energy. They are all vital components as we map the future of the campus in our campus master plan.

We have embraced an environmental ethic, one that is reflected in the way we do business on campus every day.

In February, our fleet of diesel-powered vehicles became the first in Wisconsin to switch to a blend of ultra-low sulfur diesel and soybean-based biodiesel fuel as a way to improve air quality. The new fuel blend will result in a 15 percent reduction in particulate matter, a 13 percent decline in hydrocarbons, a 16 percent drop in carbon-dioxide emissions and an 8 percent cut in hydrocarbons.

As part of our work as a partner in the Dane County Clean Air Coalition, we are also working with Dane County and the city of Madison to distribute about 4,000 environmentally friendly gas cans to homeowners this spring. An exchange program, funded by the university, will take older gas-storage cans out of circulation in favor of low-emission cans that could prevent the emission of 46.7 tons of volatile organic compounds — a key ingredient in ozone — over the next five years.

We have concentrated on wise use of resources across the campus, replacing 2,000 motors with premium-efficiency motors, installing more than 8,500 occupancy sensors, retrofitting 6,000 lighting fixtures with high-efficiency units and replacing 3,000 toilets with water-saving, ultra-low-flow models.

Later this year, the West Campus Cogeneration Facility — a highly efficient natural-gas-fired facility that will supply electricity while meeting the university’s need for chilled water and steam heating — will come on line. Along with our partners at Madison Gas & Electric and the state, we built the plant in a way that no one else has done with that level of cogeneration and in a way that is clean.

Some critics have targeted our Charter Street Heating Plant for its emissions. But the truth is that we have invested $12 million in the plant over the past decade in order to ensure that it continues to meet state and federal air-emission standards.

The facility is a vital provider of heat to our campus, one that is not easily or affordably replaced. That’s why we intend to continue to improve the plant and its emissions in the future, as part of our ongoing environmental commitment to our campus and our community. And, as part of our utility master plan, we are evaluating the costs and benefits of additional changes to the Charter Street facility, including more-efficient fluidized bed boilers and switching fuels.

As outdated, energy-inefficient buildings are taken down, and new facilities are constructed, we are keenly aware of our role as stewards of the environment.

For example, when new student housing is built and Ogg Hall is razed, 75 percent of the old residence hall will be recycled.

And green design is playing a growing role in our new facilities, such as the new Microbial Sciences Building, which will feature the campus’ first designed “green roof.” The roof will help reduce storm-water run-off by installing plants and groundcovers in a lightweight soil that will soak up rainwater that falls on the roof.

We have also incorporated other sustainable design components, such as daylighting, energy-efficient glass and high R-value insulation into our projects.

Creating a campus master plan to guide our development in the next 20 years is about serving the needs of people and protecting the extraordinary place where they study, work and live.

Alan Fish is the Associate Vice Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin.