Environmental Stewardship and the Green Campus:
The Special Role of Facilities Managers

Much has happened since the first Earth Day took place in 1970. Our awareness and knowledge about environmental issues have increased dramatically, and we have taken many constructive steps to address the environmental problems that threaten the quality of our lives. Yet, if we want to leave a legacy to our children and grandchildren of which we can be proud, this is notime for complacency.

As "spaceship earth" rushes into this next century, global environmental risks and dangers threaten to escalate. The key elements are population, consumption, and technology.

Consider:

- What will happen if our planet’s human population doubles in the next fifty years? 
- Can the Earth sustain such increased demands for resources and subsequent increased waste and pollution? 
- What will be the impact of the industrialization of highly populous countries, such as China and India, given current reliance on coal-burning, which maximizes acid-rain and global warming emissions?
- Are we setting the proper example?
- Is American-style affluence sustainable over the long run?
- What will be the consequences to natural systems if the rest of the world adopts our economic system and lifestyle?

These are vexing questions that suggest precarious times ahead. A decent future is contingent upon environmental stewardship. In this area, colleges and universities have a special responsibility. According to Oberlin College professor David Orr, the environmental crisis is at heart a crisis of ideas. As such, higher education is deeply implicated in the crisis and strenuously obliged to address it.

Institutions of higher learning are in a unique position to instill environmental knowledge and concern. Moreover, scientific research conducted at colleges and universities can help solve technical problems associated with the environmental crisis. While environmental teaching and research are of paramount importance, this booklet is written specifically for facilities managers and will focus on the significant contributions they can make to environmental stewardship through the "greening" of campus operations.

Think Globally, Act Locally

The good news is that campus greening is blooming!

Many campuses in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere have started the greening process and are now actively implementing important changes in the way they conduct day-to-day business. For the leaders of this vital movement, environmental stewardship has become a priority. In 1994, under the auspices of the Heinz Family Foundation, 450 faculty, students, and administrative staff delegates from twenty-two countries and all fifty U.S. states met at Yale University for a Campus Earth Summit, creating a "Blueprint for a Green Campus." Since then there have been other national gatherings including three "Greening of the Campus" conferences at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. More than 250 college and university presidents from over forty countries have committed their campuses to academic and operational environmental responsibility through affiliation with University Leaders for a Sustainable Future.

The eleven-year-old National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Campus Ecology Program is going strong and has expanded its efforts to involve campus administrators as well as its traditional base of students and faculty. A recently published book, Green Investment, Green Return: How Practical Conservation Projects Save Millions on America’s Campuses, by David Eagan and NWF’s Julian Keniry, tells the story of successful campus projects which have saved dollars while benefiting the environment. A previous book by Keniry, Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship at the Turn of the 21st Century, highlights the work of college and university staff in promoting environmental sustainability.

Other excellent books, articles and organizing manuals are available, including Greening of the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions by Sarah Hammond Creighton. Also see Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect by David Orr.

The green campus movement is alive and well!

Back to Basics: Energy and Recycling

Among the first steps a campus can take toward campus greening is to reinforce, reinvigorate, and expand its existing environmental programs, typically energy conservation and recycling. Most campuses have these programs; they are the foundation of any administrative environmental effort.

Energy consumption produces some of the most significant environmental impacts associated with campus operations. If staff and/or financial resources are not available to advance your energy program, consider employing the services of an energy service company. ESCOs, as they are called, can develop, design, and construct energy efficiency projects that produce positive cash flow and pay for themselves. Energy savings well in excess of 20 percent of total consumption are possible.

Enthusiasm about recycling is on the rise in most parts of the country because of the success and proliferation of municipal curbside programs. Unless colleges and universities run recycling programs at least as good as local municipal ones, campus efforts will appear deficient. How much is your campus recycling? The best schools are recycling over 50 percent of their waste stream; that’s the target to shoot for!

Since facilities managers have significant control over energy and recycling programs, these are areas where you can really contribute to campus greening. Moreover, enthusiastic campus participation in the rest of the green agenda is unlikely to materialize unless it is evident to all concerned that facilities management is running active, aggressive programs in these two critical areas.

Taking the Green Path

Of course, new initiatives are essential. Environmental stewardship involves examining all facets of campus operation in order to identify environmental impacts and strategies for mitigating those impacts.

Many campuses have organized a campus environmental committee or task force to initiate and coordinate this environmental agenda. While facilities management must play a central role, this needs to be a coalition effort. Ideally, this task force would include representation from key departments and offices and be comprised of faculty and students as well as staff. All members need to be committed to the cause and enthusiastic, especially the group’s leader or chair. Other key ingredients for a campus environmental task force include regular meetings, some form of institutional memory, and a subcommittee organization. The task force will need access to higher levels of decision-making in order to be effective.

Empowerment is crucial to the success of this kind of group. Task force members need to see results. Reasonable proposals need to become new policies or programs in a reasonable amount of time. Administrative support must be evident and open-minded. To be effective, the task force will need to look wherever it wants in its quest to identify both problems and solutions. No area should be "off-limits."

Another important step toward a green campus is to conduct a campus environmental profile or audit. This can be undertaken by the campus environmental task force, though it need not be. It is common at many colleges and universities for student groups to conduct an audit and present it as a challenge to their school’s leadership. Students enrolled in a special environmental course may conduct the audit. But the audit should be honest and pose a challenge regardless of who conducts it. A number of excellent resources are available to assist in the audit process (see "Resources"and "Publications" appendices).


The heart of a campus environmental audit is its recommendations. These will typically take the form of proposed campus policies and programs and be grouped by issue areas. A number of generic recommendations are included with this pamphlet in the appendix titled "Steps Toward Sustainability."

Fine-tuning and gaining acceptance and approval of these policies and programs will take time and effort. Since everything cannot be done at once, priorities will have to be established. Scoring some "victories" early on—even if they are small ones—is important, although it is equally important to develop long range plans to tackle the larger problems.

Getting Serious About Stewardship

Once your campus environmental task force or committee becomes successful in getting its proposals approved, it’s then time to address the challenge of implementation. Since most colleges and universities seem to be diverse and decentralized communities of free-spirited individuals, few things get accomplished by fiat or order. That makes implementation hard. What to do?

First, where you have influence and control, use it. Facilities is a good example. While deliberation on new policies and programs in your department may be an open and consultative affair, once facilities managers have reached an implementation decision they can expect and insist upon results and cooperation from their staff. Gaining cooperation from other segments of the campus community may be more difficult.

Implementation of green policies and programs requires upping the ante on campus environmental awareness activities. This means rethinking and going beyond the traditional publicity campaigns for campus energy conservation and recycling. While helpful, campus mailings, newspaper articles, posters, and stickers won’t entirely do the job. Neither will organizing lectures which may primarily be attended by the "converted." A deeper kind of outreach is required.

A more effective way to reach all segments of the campus community is through a network of "environmental contacts" who represent the various departments and offices on campus. These individuals serve as informational conduits and liaisons between their areas and the campus’ environmental programs. They also serve as informal monitors and trouble-shooters. On a larger campus an environmental contacts network may have over 150 members. Such a network is time-consuming to establish, especially if it is complete and includes representation from all administrative and academic units, but it is the only way to go in the long run.

An environmental contacts network will need a coordinator—perhaps your facilities energy officer, recycling coordinator, or an assistant. The recruitment process for members of the network should include training, to instill familiarity with the issues and with program objectives and methods. Providing appropriate resource materials is also important. And don’t forget to include facilities staff—from custodians to trades to engineering—in this educational outreach network.

Once a campus environmental contacts network is in place, it has to be "worked" or it will eventually fall apart. This can be done by regular follow-up with network members by the coordinator, or perhaps, by student assistants or volunteers. An occasional network newsletter (printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, of course!) can help, as can providing support and dialogue through an e-mail discussion group.


Holding periodic meetings, perhaps once a semester, can also build the effort. These get-togethers can provide an opportunity to inform and rally your environmental outreach team —as well as give team members a chance to "vent," share success stories, make recommendations, and bond with one another.

Note that some members of your network may need to get release time from their supervisors to participate. That should be relatively easy to obtain since network responsibilities are unlikely to take that much time after the environmental program is established. Of course, resolving issues such as release time are easy if campus greening has the blessing of campus administrative and academic leadership.

The Importance of Top-Level Leadership

If top-level support is a prerequisite to achieving some measure of environmental success, top level leadership is essential to achieving excellence in campus greening. Without a clear commitment and active involvement on the part of a college or university president or provost, a campus environmental program will be ineffective past a certain point. The effort will stop well short of genuine environmental stewardship and excellence.

How do you obtain that leadership commitment? Perhaps the most effective way is for the campus environmental task force, in conjunction with well respected sympathetic administrators, faculty and students, to approach the president or provost and request that he or she sign the Talloires Declaration. This international declaration commits signatories to pursuing environmental education and operations as central institutional priorities (see www.center1.com/ulsf for the text and signatories of this declaration). Consideration of the Talloires Declaration could also be initiated by sympathetic members of the college or university board of trustees.

Current U.S. and Canadian signatories of the Talloires Declaration include the presidents and top leaders of institutions such as Ball State University, Bowling Green State University, Brown University, University at Buffalo (SUNY), University of California/Santa Barbara, Carleton University, Clemson University, University of Florida, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts/Boston, McGill University, Middlebury College, University of North Carolina, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rhode Island, Rutgers University, Tufts University, University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Green campus initiatives will thrive when members of your campus community know that your president or provost is interested, on board, and involved. Top-level leadership will result in increasing support from vice presidents, directors, and deans. Policy implementation will be expedited, go more smoothly, and be more comprehensive and effective.

One of the ways top-level leadership can make things happen is by setting the right example and by practicing green habits. For example, if the office of your president, provost or a vice president starts reusing envelopes, using double-sided copying and 100 percent recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper for official correspondence, widespread campus use of these ecological practices will be much easier to achieve. Conversely, if a president (or leadership generally) shuns green habits, these habits may be viewed as unprofessional or eccentric, and institutionalizing them will be impossible.

An obvious step to solidifying, publicizing, and institutionalizing top-level support is to incorporate green campus tenets into your college or university mission statement. The campus environmental task force could propose appropriate language to tie the teaching, research, and public service dimensions of your school’s mission to environmental responsibility and stewardship.

Of course, green campus language can also be incorporated into the mission statements of individual departments and offices as well. Maintenance or facilities management is an obvious place to start.

Greening TQM and Customer Service

Because facilities management or maintenance departments operate the campus physical plant, they play a critical role in campus greening. Their commitment and leadership are essential. Consequently, it is vitally important that environmental concerns be addressed as facilities’ total quality management (TQM) and customer service programs are developed. Additionally, facilities managers need to consider how their operations contribute to the education of the student customer.

Facilities management’s TQM goals or objectives should include campus greening as a fundamental value commitment. To incorporate greening in TQM, questions like these must be considered: How can we make physical plant operations more environmentally responsible? How can we improve our energy conservation, recycling, and other environmental programs? How can we clean up the emissions of our power plant? The TQM technique of benchmarking can then be applied to measure green campus performance and progress against the best peer institutions across the country, many of which are profiled in Keniry’s Green Investment, Green Return and Ecodemia and Creighton’s Greening of the Ivory Tower.

Customer service is another concept borrowed from the private sector to improve campus business operations. Unfortunately, it is possible for customer service to be defined narrowly and end up in conflict with environmental objectives. Take temperature control, for example. If customer service is raised to an absolute and becomes synonymous with making people happy and minimizing complaints, then conserving energy through proper heating and cooling temperature control will become impossible. Thus, customer service needs to be defined within reasonable limits and viewed in the context of other policies and priorities. A sensible, well-publicized, conscientiously administered temperature policy should be able to coexist with a reasonable customer service program.

But greening goes further and asks us to reexamine the concepts of "customer" and "service." On the one hand, the customer may be the room occupant who claims to be too hot or too cold (or insists on having his or her window open while the air conditioning is running). On the other hand, according to green campus thinking, the customer is also the wider community—including our children and future generations who are or will be affected by our behavior.

How do you provide excellent customer service to this wider constituency? Surely not by operating a campus in an environmentally irresponsible way. Green operational changes may affect service to your immediate campus customers, but the changes will be perceived positively if the program is explained and marketed properly.

This customer service theme can be developed further by considering the student, who we often refer to as our ultimate customer. We address the needs of students by becoming part of their educational experience.

Facilities Role in Eco-Literacy

According to David Orr, those of us who work at educational institutions have a special obligation to prepare students for a responsible life on this beautiful though fragile and endangered planet. By this he means graduating students who are environmentally literate, concerned and active.

Faculty should be doing their part in the classroom. But facilities management departments also have a role to play in this educational process. We can do this by setting an example and by creating the right environment for the learning process. Campus operations should be consistent with, reinforce, and enlarge the academic environmental message.

The involvement of facilities management in the education of students can and should be taken one step further. Orr describes an educational process that breaks down the barriers between academic functions and those of campus operations. He envisions an educational experience where the campus itself —its architecture, its physical plant, and its business operations— is pedagogic and becomes a "learning lab" for students.

Through appropriate courses or through extra-curricular activities with facilities staff support and mentoring, students can study the campus, make recommendations, and learn to help mitigate negative campus environmental impacts. According to Orr, this kind of hands-on involvement in the workings of the campus empowers students and helps them learn more about how the world works and how to affect it constructively. Of course, facilities operations and staff must be accessible to students, and facilities staff must be willing to serve as informal teachers if this eco-literacy process is to work.

Fiscal Bottom Lines

It’s been said, quite aptly, that if you want to see an organization’s priorities, look at its budget. A commitment to campus greening means going beyond "talking the talk." You also have to "walk the walk." That means allocating appropriate campus resources to get the environmental job done.

Staffing of key positions is a critical issue. It is hard to imagine any large campus organizing an effective energy conservation program without at least a full-time energy director or coordinator. Moreover, this individual will need full staff support to make energy conservation projects happen.

The same can be said of recycling. A full-time coordinator is a general prerequisite to an effective program; this person would be in addition to the personnel who physically collect the recyclables. Given staffing levels and staffing costs common for other campus business functions, the idea of establishing well paid professional staff positions completely dedicated to environmentally beneficial activities should not be viewed as controversial or excessive.

We live in an era of budget cutting, downsizing, and privatization. Making that green campus commitment means continuing down the green path even when times get tough. Green positions should be protected when the budget gets tight. If some maintenance functions get privatized, contract provisions mandating full cooperation with campus environmental objectives should be made —even if these add some expense.

For Love or Money

Luckily, environmental stewardship is often good for the budget. This fortunate coincidence has been described as "doing well by doing good." The hallmark of a green campus is waste reduction. Generally, reducing waste will save your campus money while conserving resources and contributing toward environmental protection. Waste reduction is good management from a variety of perspectives.

The financial benefits of energy conservation are well established. These projects can produce large dollar savings, easily paying for themselves and then producing "positive cash flow." Project costs can be reduced by utility demand side management or other efficiency incentive programs. Some campuses are discovering that water conservation retrofit projects also save enough to benefit their financial bottom lines. Campus recycling, while less lucrative, can avoid landfill costs and generate income that helps pay the costs of recycling.

But the ability of conserving activities to save money may lead managers and their superiors to view these activities narrowly. While it makes sense to use green campus efforts to save money, a real commitment to environmental responsibility must go beyond doing only those things that save money or pay for themselves.

Colleges and universities spend money and allocate resources to many programs that are costly and are not expected to pay for themselves in a strict dollar sense. Expenditures for these activities and functions are routinely approved because they are viewed as the right thing to do, as important or necessary. Green campus initiatives need to be placed in that category and not evaluated solely on the basis of economics and payback.

The Challenge of Electric Deregulation

The U.S. electric power industry is undergoing a profound change, propelled by a variety of forces including federal legislation. Like the telephone and natural gas industries before it, the electric power industry is in the midst of deregulation. Electric utilities are becoming mere distribution companies or are facing increasing competition from other power producers. Many large electric users are looking to retail wheeling, self-generation, or customized utility contracts as salvation from escalating electric rates and costs without considering how these arrangements could affect their conservation efforts.

Retail wheeling (or "retail competition"), where it materializes, will permit large electric users to buy cheap power from distant third-party generators and pay utility distribution companies a "wheeling" or "transportation" charge for delivery to their facility. The end result may be substantially lower electric rates for these users (possibly causing smaller users to pay more).

It’s hard to fault colleges and universities for seeking lower electric rates. But as rates go down, so will incentives for energy conservation. Conservation may still be cost-effective at a lower rate but paybacks will get longer and conservation will look less attractive.

How much are electric rates likely to fall? The answer to that question is, "It all depends." Recently, in California deregulated electric rates escalated tremendously. These price hikes were accompanied by supply shortages and "rolling blackouts" to conserve power — calling into question the whole idea of electric deregulation. In other states, electric deregulation has proceeded more evenly and rates have fallen —though price reductions have been more modest than anticipated.


While the price of the electricity itself (the "commodity cost") may drop under deregulation, other costs are moderating the price reduction of delivered electricity. These other costs include "transportation charges" and "stranded cost recovery" to pay off what are alleged to be "prudently incurred" debts by electric utility companies. These other costs can make up more than half the price of delivered electricity. Thus, a 25% reduction in commodity price may result in only a 10% reduction in the price of delivered electricity —though even this could be enough to impact the financial viability of a proposed conservation project.

Where cheaper energy materializes, green campus efforts must address this issue directly. Lower rates may encourage more energy use while not changing the fact that wasteful energy consumption significantly contributes to environmental degradation through air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and other serious environmental impacts. By failing to reflect the environmental costs of energy use, the new rates can pose a real threat to environmental stewardship.

Strategies to keep conservation efforts alive despite lower rates must be identified and explored. What are these strategies? How can energy conservation efforts be sustained?

Sustaining Your Energy Program

Ultimately, environmental stewardship involves a change of values; campuses should be willing to be environmentally responsible even when it’s not profitable. This commitment should be applied to energy conservation, though, admittedly, energy projects that are very costly to implement are not as likely to be pursued if the monetary return on investment is not there.

Fortunately, even in the context of lower energy rates or prices, energy conservation and efficiency can still make good financial sense. Lower energy rates or prices do not necessarily produce the lowest energy bills. Energy consumption drives energy costs as much as energy rates. Higher energy consumption will result in inflated energy costs —thus, negating all or some of the hoped for financial benefit of lower rates. Moreover, if needlessly high levels of energy consumption are allowed to persist, campus energy costs will be that much higher when energy prices rebound and rise again (as they inevitably will). Energy efficiency is a hedge against future rate shock and remains fundamental to least-cost energy strategies.

Moreover, the deregulated marketplace will reward energy conservation and efficiency measures which produce a flatter energy load profile because this pattern of consumption is more attractive to electricity suppliers. Suppliers will bid lower rates to facilities with flatter electric loads. Those lower prices and dollar savings should be credited to the conservation measures which produce improved load profile.

Another method for making conservation and efficiency work in a deregulated era of lower energy rates is shifting from simple payback to life cycle evaluation of projects. This method can demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of conservation despite lower energy rates. While lower electric rates may extend the simple payback of a proposed energy conservation project, a life cycle analysis may show that the measure still makes excellent financial sense —given its projected savings over the life of the equipment being installed as well as its quantifiable maintenance savings, capital improvement, and other benefits.

Finally, beware of custom contracts with a utility desperate to keep your business. These contracts may offer you savings through discounted or "marginal" rates but may destroy your energy conservation program by greatly reducing the dollar value of energy saving projects. Make sure the rate structure credits full dollar savings to any conservation project you complete during the duration of the contract. Remember, when dealing with a desperate utility, you are in the driver’s seat and you can dictate terms.

Is There Green Power or Green Design in Your Future?

One bonus of electricity deregulation is that it will provide customer choice, and your institution may eventually have the opportunity to buy power from a producer which generates electricity with clean windpower, small-scale hydro, photovoltaics, landfill gas, or sustainable biomass. If the energy purchased by your campus from these "green" sources helps a producer bring more clean capacity on line, then your facility will be using its energy dollars to reduce fossil fuel use and environmental impact.

Green power presents some challenges. What specifically defines green power and who tracks the electrons? Each State (or the federal government) will have to set up an emissions disclosure program and a green power certification program to establish a functioning green power market.

Also, green power may cost more. How much more is your facility willing to pay? If your decision-making is driven entirely by low dollar cost, you may end up buying the cheapest, dirtiest power on the market —making a mockery of your environmental program. Yes, choice will provide us with the opportunity to do both good and bad.

Some campuses have or will take up the green power challenge in a different way, namely, by designing and constructing buildings which incorporate renewable energy technologies. In other words, they will harvest or generate their own clean energy on-site. These green design buildings will use energy from the sun in terms of daylighting and passive solar heating. Green buildings may also utilize building-integrated photovoltaic cells or space-age fuel cells to generate clean electricity.

But green power is just one aspect of the green building design revolution. Green buildings maximize energy efficiency (the cleanest strategy for meeting energy needs). Building materials also come under scrutiny as environmentally-minded designers specify green building materials which are low in embodied energy, least toxic (in manufacture, installation, use, and disposal), made of recycled materials or are sustainably harvested.

All aspects of a new building’s environmental impact are examined by a green design process which seeks to minimize lifecycle environmental and dollar costs.

Do site plans preserve trees and green space and harmonize with nature? Do they minimize transportation requirements? Can new building size and/or material use be reduced by creative design? Can existing buildings be modified and reused? How can we maximize recycling of construction and demolition debris?

Green buildings have many advantages. Besides significant benefits to the outdoor natural environment, green buildings are designed to have healthy indoor environments. Human productivity tends to be higher in green buildings because of their emphasis on indoor air quality and natural daylighting. But to get these benefits, campuses will have to stop doing "business as usual" design and be willing to consider slightly higher first costs in order to achieve lower life cycle costs.

The groundswell for green design is just beginning —though it is clearly the wave of the future. Here is another area where facilities management is key and where campuses must decide whether to lead or follow.

Cultural Change and the Sustainable Society

American colleges and universities exist in a social context, namely a social system that defines the "good life" in terms of materialistic consumption. All of us, on or off campus, have grown up learning that success is affluence. Bigger is better. And immediate gratification is a need and a right.

Without realizing it, we learn to regard the natural world as a collection of resources or commodities to be used, exploited, and gobbled up. We are shoppers in one vast global supermarket! Ah, yes, enjoy!

But while our commercial culture has benefits, many aspects of it are not sustainable over the long run. We can’t go on consuming at this rate and producing all the inadvertent waste and pollution that goes along with this lifestyle. Ultimately, we need to talk about cultural change if we want to maximize our chances for success in campus greening and if we are going to understand why getting serious about it will not be easy.

The green campus movement is about a different ethic, one of "small is beautiful." It’s about frugality and an understanding that less may be more. It’s about abandoning selfishness in favor of compassion and service to others. We need to feel in our gut that the world we live in does not belong to us; it belongs to our kids. We must look at what we do today from the perspective of the next generations. Moreover, our empathy must extend to other species, to ecosystems, and to the earth itself.

It will take significant cultural change to make these values dominant. But this paradigm shift is what is necessary to achieve an environmentally sustainable society. Will it be a sacrifice? In some sense, yes. But the gains —including psychological, ethical, and spiritual benefits— will far exceed the losses.

A sustainable society would be one where ongoing human activities do not compromise the prospects of future generations —in other words, a society where human activity does not degrade the environment and its ability to support life. That would mean limiting our numbers and demanding considerably less from the environment than we do now. It would entail full recycling of non-renewable resources and much better management of renewable resources. Our energy source would have to be solar with efficiency serving as a bridge to that renewable energy future. Waste and pollution would have to be reduced to amounts and types the earth could naturally recycle on a continuing basis without harm.

Achieving an environmentally sustainable society will require a significant departure from the past. Be well advised: the challenge before us is of truly major proportions. However, every journey begins with first steps. Colleges and universities should be leading the way and aiming for environmental excellence. Campus facilities managers and staff have a special role to play and can make the crucial difference.

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth, and in contemplation of her beauties, to know the wonder of humility.

- Rachel Carson

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

- Albert Einstein


APPENDICES

Steps Toward Sustainability ................ Page 24
Eighty Strategies for Greening Your Campus

Internet Resources ................................. Page 30
College and University Environmental Program WebPages
National and International Organizations WebPages
Green Building Design WebPages

Publications for Campus Greening .............. Page 36

STEPS TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY
Suggested Actions for Campus Greening

Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling

Establish a waste reduction ethic in all areas, including office activities —minimize unnecessary copying, reuse scrap paper and envelopes, print double-sided etc. Set up campus "repair and swap" shops to refurbish, exchange and reuse unwanted items. Reduce Third Class junk mail. Reduce distribution of phone books. Minimize press runs of campus newspapers and other publications, consistent with actual need. Perform waste stream analyses to determine recycling potential. Implement a recycling program —start with paper and cardboard and expand to metal, plastic and glass. Recycle tires, batteries, fluorescent lamps and ballasts, computers, scrap metal, concrete, asphalt. Compost organic waste. Seek to recycle at least 50% of campus waste stream.

Purchasing and Administrative Services

Purchase only what is needed. Implement an environmentally-friendly products purchasing policy, i.e., buy only products which are durable, reusable, recyclable, made of recycled materials, non-hazardous, energy efficient, sustainably harvested, produced in an environmentally sound manner, etc. Replace virgin-material office paper with 100% post- consumer recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper. Buy only computers, office equipment and appliances compliant with EPA Energy Star program. Incorporate environmental standards in all contracts for goods and services.

Energy Conservation

Create energy databases which document energy use and completed energy conservation measures and projects. Develop heating and cooling season temperature policies which promote conservation. Minimize HVAC fan and equipment run times. Exploit all cost-effective retrofit opportunities for efficient lighting, HVAC, motors, drives, EMS, etc. and operate this equipment to maximize savings. For lab buildings, focus on fume hood ventilation system efficiency measures including heat recovery and variable air volume fan systems. Make conservation projects happen by using energy service companies (ESCOs), third party financing, and demand-side management incentives. Use life cycle analysis to evaluate conservation projects. Organize an ongoing energy awareness program which enlists the support of the campus community and encourages respect for temperature policies, efficient operation of lights, use of power management features on computer equipment, etc. Link energy conservation effort with programs to reduce campus carbon dioxide emissions and contribution to global warming.

Energy Purchasing

Structure energy purchases to benefit your conservation program, not hurt it. Use energy efficiency measures to flatten campus load profile to lower electric rates. Phase out use of dirty fuels like coal and oil. Buy green power.

Water

Implement water conservation program to repair leaks and retrofit inefficient plumbing fixtures. Avoid water consuming air compressors and "one-pass" air conditioning systems. Protect ground water and storm run-off by minimizing use of salt for ice-melting and by implementing an automotive oil recycling program for on-campus students. Use drought-resistant plantings and minimize irrigation.

Hazardous Materials

Meet or exceed legal "haz mat" handling, collection, disposal and tracking requirements. Educate campus hazardous waste generators about minimization and proper disposal techniques. Use "microscale" chemistry techniques for research and teaching. Encourage chemical users to explore less hazardous chemicals. Develop a chemical tracking or inventory database Implement a "chemical swapping" program. Switch to non/least toxic paints, solvents and cleaning agents. Switch print shop to soy-based inks. Recycle hazardous waste-containing products such as fluorescent lamps and ballasts, anti-freeze, solvents, batteries, computer monitor and TVs, etc. Use integrated pest management techniques to minimize or eliminate use of pesticides. Don’t use herbicides on campus lawns. Recycle and recover ozone-depleting CFCs. Convert/replace cooling and refrigeration equipment to use HCFCs or HFCs. Avoid chlorine-based products and incineration of plastics.

Transportation

Encourage travel by carpooling, public transportation, bicycling, walking. Convert vehicle fleet to alternative fuel, e.g., natural gas.

Food and Food Service

Buy regional produce in season. Support local organic farms. Promote less meat consumption and eating "low on the food chain" for health and environmental reasons. Minimize the use of disposable dinnerware. Implement a reusable mug program with discounted drinks at dining areas.

Campus Grounds and Land Use

Redefine campus beauty. Reduce lawn areas and grass cutting. Promote "natural succession" for unneeded lawn areas. Go organic and celebrate dandelions! Develop a nature appreciation program. Protect woodlands, wetlands, watershed, and wildlife. Implement a tree protection policy. Plant native species.

New Construction

Don’t oversize or build unnecessarily. Utilize sustainable or "green" design principles for all new construction and rehabs. Design for state-of-the-art energy efficiency and exceed energy codes. Incorporate renewable energy technologies including daylighting and passive solar. Include suitable recycling collection space in building design programs. Recycle construction and demolition debris. Specify environmentally-friendly building materials and products. Evaluate options based on life cycle analysis.

Campus Planning and Design

Locate campus convenient to population being served and regional public transit system. Develop campus master plan which minimizes negative impacts and disruption of natural ecosystems and surroundings. Preserve and enhance greenspace. Protect natural areas from development. Concentrate buildings and arrange campus walkways and roads to minimize on-campus driving and create a convenient pedestrian and bicycle campus. Allow for solar access in building siting and orientation. Use water-efficient indigenous plantings; landscape for energy efficiency as well as aesthetics. Subject all new building, renovation and expansion plans to a public participation process, an environmental impact analysis, and sustainable design principles.

Investment Policies

Establish environmental criteria for financial investments. Use stockholder influence to encourage environmentally responsible business practices.

Teaching and Research

Strengthen and prioritize undergraduate, graduate, and post- grad environmental studies, research, and policy programs. Teach environmental literacy to all students. Expand opportunities for using the campus physical plant and business operations as a "learning lab" for students. Develop community environmental education programs and participate in public dialogue on environmental issues in the wider community.

INTERNET RESOURCES

College & University Environmental Program WebPages

http://wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen
The University at Buffalo’s "UB Green" environmental web site. Visit this site for information on all of SUNY Buffalo’s environmental programs including recycling, energy conservation, environmental audits, the Environmental Task Force, and campus environmental and energy policies, etc.

http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/index.html
This is the site of the University of British Columbia’s Campus Sustainability Office which contains information about a multitude of green campus activities including successful green building projects.

http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Brown_Is_Green
This site provides an overview of Brown University’s "Brown Is Green" environmental efforts and provides links to many college and university campus-based environmental action sites.

http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/cfe/about.html
This site provides information regarding Cornell University’s environmental educational programs as well as various campus environmental programs. Be sure to take a look at their composting program: http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/compost

http://www.middlebury.edu/~envirocl
Middlebury College’s environmental council page. This is a comprehensive site which highlights all of Middlebury’s environmental programs including: green building, transportation, waste diversion, and environmental reports. Great links too!

http://www.fmc.sc.edu/recycle/env.htm
University of South Carolina Recycles! highlights the recycling program at the University, as well as various other stewardship programs.

http://www.tufts.edu/tie/
Tufts University Institute for the Environment site highlights Tufts recycling, climate change, and other green campus environmental programs.

http://esf.uvm.edu/envcncl
The Environmental Council of the University of Vermont runs an exemplary environmental stewardship campaign. Be sure to explore this site and their environmental initiatives for ideas on how to green your campus.

http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/campusecology
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Campus Ecology program web site highlights projects encouraging resource conservation, pollution prevention, and protection of natural areas.

National and International Organizations Web Pages

http://www.appa.org
APPA: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers is an international association dedicated to maintaining, protecting, and enhancing the quality of educational facilities. APPA promotes excellence in the administration, care, operation, planning, and construction of educational facilities. APPA, 1643 Prince St., Alexandria, VA 22314-2818 (703) 684-1446.

http://www.nwf.org/campusecology/index.html
The Campus Ecology Program at the National Wildlife Federation offers resources and networking for students, faculty, and staff interested in reducing environmental impacts on campuses. This organization can provide targeted resource materials to assist campuses. Campus Ecology Program, National Wildlife Federation, 11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190-5362.

http://www.greenseal.org
Greenseal is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people and institutions buy products and services that are less damaging to the environment. Their scientists study and test products to identify those that are friendliest to the planet and award the best products with a seal of approval.

http://www.hense.org
The Higher Education Network for Sustainability and the Environment (HENSE) is a network of individuals, organizations, colleges and universities which seeks to make education for sustainability and the environment a foundation of all aspects of higher education by supporting, celebrating, and expanding existing efforts in the field.

http://www.rmi.org
Rocky Mountain Institute is a nonprofit research and educational foundation whose mission is to foster the efficient and sustainable use of resources as a path to global security. Excellent information source on energy issues and environmentally friendly careers.

http://www.secondnature.org
Second Nature is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting environmental education and literacy. This web site has a searchable database of environmental courses, syllabi, teaching methods, etc.

http://www.solstice.crest.org
Solstice is the internet information service of the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (CREST).

http://www.center1.com/ulsf
University Leaders for a Sustainable Future is an affiliate of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment, and is an international member organization of signatories to the Talloires Declaration.

Green Building Design Web Pages

http://www.e-architect.com/pia/cote/
The American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment features Earth Day 2000 Top Ten Green Buildings and other information about sustainable design.

http://www.eren.doe.gov/energysmartschools
Energy Smart Schools is a Rebuild America (U.S. Department of Energy) program which focuses on primary and secondary schools but there is enough overlap with campus buildings to recommend this site.

http://www.buildinggreen.com
The Environmental Building News is an excellent monthly newsletter which focuses on energy-efficient, resource efficient, and healthy building practices.

www.gggc.state.pa.us
Governor’s Green Government Council website features information on green design as well as details on Pennsylvania’s green design initiatives. Also available is an excellent video entitled Pennsylvania’s First Green Building. To order: http://www.gggc.state.pa.us/building/ scroborform.html or call (717)783-9981.

http://www.greendesign.net
Greendesign.net offers the twice monthly free "GreenClips" e-mail newsletter about green building design.

http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/highperformance/
High Performance Buildings is a U.S. Department of Energy site which lists, describes, and gives contact information for over 100 high performance commercial buildings.


http://www.oikos.com
Oikos: Green Building Source provides green building news, products and companies. Checkout the "library" section for information organized by subject.

http://www.ttcorp.com/upvg/schools/index.htm
Interested in finding out more about solar energy and how it can be used at your school? Check out Schools Going Solar for various solar energy methods, and examples of schools that have gone solar.

http://www.sbicouncil.org
The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council works to advance the design, affordability, energy performance, and environmental soundness of residential, institutional, and commercial buildings (including schools) nationwide.

http://www.usgbc.org/
The U.S. Green Building Council promotes the understanding, development and accelerated implementation of "green building" policies, programs, technologies, standards and design practices.

PUBLICATIONS FOR CAMPUS GREENING

"Blueprint for a Green Campus: The Campus Earth Summit Initiatives for Higher Education," Heinz Family Foundation, January 1995, http://www.envirocitizen.org/cgv/blueprint/index.html

The Campus and Environmental Responsibility, edited by David Eagan and David Orr, New Directions in Higher Education series, No. 77, Spring 1992, Jossey- Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94104.

Campus Ecology: A Guide to Assessing Environmental Quality and Creating Strategies for Change, April Smith and the Student Environmental Action Coalition, Living Planet Press, 1993. This book explains the campus audit process in detail. Available through the Campus Ecology Program of the National Wildlife Federation, 410-516-6583.

Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, David Orr, Island Press, Washington, DC, 1994.

Ecodemia: Campus Environmental Stewardship at the Turn of the 21st Century, Julian Keniry, National Wildlife Federation, Washington, DC, 1995. Call 410-516-6583 to order.

ESCO/End User Partnerships for Energy Efficiency and Clean Power in a Competitive Electric Market, Robert Kennedy and Walter Simpson, 1998. Paper available from UB Green Office.

Greening of the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions, Sarah Hammond Creighton, MIT Press, 1998.

"Talloires Declaration," University Leaders for a Sustainable Future, 2100 L Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, www.center1.com/ulsf, 202-778-6133.

Green Investment, Green Return: How Practical Conservation Projects Save Millions on America’s Campuses, David Eagan and Julian Keniry, National Wildlife Federation, 1998. Call 410-516-6583 to order.

High Performance Building Guidelines, an excellent detailed green design manual developed by the City of New York’s Department of Design and Construction. Available for $25 plus $3 shipping from CityStore, 1 Centre Street, Room 2223, NYC, NY 10007. Also available online at: http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/ddc/

A Primer on Sustainable Building, 1995, Rocky Mountain Institute, 1739 Snowmass Creek Road, Snowmass, CO 81654-9199. $16.95. 970-927-3851.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Walter Simpson, MA, MS, serves as Energy Officer at the University at Buffalo (State University of New York), a position he has held since 1982. A Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Lighting Efficiency Professional (CLEP), Walter’s efforts have been recognized by the Association of Energy Engineers which admitted him into its Energy Managers Hall of Fame in 2000. He also teaches in UB’s environmental studies program and directs the UB Green Office.

ABOUT UB GREEN

UB Green is an office within SUNY Buffalo’s University Facilities department which addresses campus environmental stewardship issues including energy conservation, waste reduction, recycling, pesticides, and campus land-use. It coordinates the UB Building Conservation Contact Network, manages the UB Green website, and works closely with the University’s Environmental Task Force.

For more information on the UB Green Office and our environmental activities and programs please contact:

UB Green Office
University Facilities
University at Buffalo (SUNY)
220 Winspear Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14215

wsimpson@facilities.buffalo.edu
Voice: 716-829-3535; 829-2515
Fax: (716) 829-2704

Be sure to visit our website at: http://wings.buffalo.edu/ubgreen for an overview of UB’s green campus programs.

This we know... The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth. All things are connected Like the blood which unites one family. We did not weave the web of life. We are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web We do to ourselves. -Chief Seattle