Campus Operations
Energy, Water, & Carbon
Sustainable Food
Recycling and Reuse
Education & Outreach
Here's what we've been up to.
Goals
Campus Operations
Energy, Water, & Carbon
Sustainable Food
Recycling and Reuse
Education and Outreach
The Office of Sustainability Iniatives was created in 2005 with the intention of achieving specific goals.
| Reduce | energy use by 25% per square foot by 2015 | |
| Divert | 65% of Emory's waste from landfills by 2015 | |
| Recycle | 100% of electronics waste and road construction materials | |
| Compost | or recycle 95% of food waste, animal bedding, and building construction materials | |
| Procure | 75% of ingredients in dining facilities from local or sustainably grown sources by 2015 |
*In 2010, 48% of produce was procured, along with nearly all of dairy and chicken. In 2014, our percentage was 26%. This goal is the most aggressive of any college or university in the country. We acknowledge that more time is needed to meet our goal; however, Emory signed a new food service contract with Bon Apetit in Spring 2015. This new business partnership signals a promising step towards acheiving our goal.
We developed a Climate Action Plan to reduce CO2 emissions because climate change was not addressed in our initial goals.
Total Reduction
by 2020
Total Reduction
by 2036
Total Reduction
by 2050
"Sustainability is now embedded in Emory's campus master plan, construction design standards, waste management planning, grounds policies, cleaning policies, procurement policies, no net loss of forest commitment, energy and water use plans, and faculty curriculum development programs."
Our campus is constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible by a university in the 21st century.
The numbers speak for themselves...
LEED certified buildings continue to proliferate across our campuses. We host 13 LEED Gold, 12 LEED Silver, and 3 LEED certified with 7 more buildings pending certification.
Since we created the Cliff Shuttle Fleet in 2008, we've seen an upward trend of alternate commuters, with Cliff Shuttles traveling 2,593,851 miles in 2010.
...but our Impact is still visible across Emory's two campuses...
Thanks to our initiative, our campus now features a fleet of shuttles, 100% powered by biofuel left over from our hospital and dining halls' waste cooking oil
Our office works hand in hand with other departments across campus, such as Residence Life and Housing Operations to provide recycling bins in every student's room. We have also worked to increase the amount of educational signage in recycling rooms, and developed a sustainabilty curriculum for the required Resident Advisor course.
The world faces many crises that are very real. Delpleting water sources coupled with skyrocketing levels of C02 only top the list. We've taken steps to ensure that future generations won't face the consequences of our ill-informed actions from the past.
Black and Gray water reclamation projects comprise the large majority of water savings; However, smaller projects, like hydration stations, haved saved over 1 million fluid ounces of water since 2010.
Since 2005, we've saved over $23 million as a result of our energy conservation efforts.
Our Climate Action Plan of reducing carbon emissions works hand in hand with most of our other conservation efforts. 55% of our carbon emissions stem from our electricity use. As of 2010, 61% of transportation emissions have been created by commuters. As we continue to make strides in these respective areas by expanding alternate forms of energy and transportation, we will continue to reduce our carbon footprint as well.
photo from AJC
A.k.a. the WaterHub, this recently installed treatment plant will treat up to 300,000 gallons of water per day, recycling 40% of Emory's water use. It's the first of its kind at any American university.
To supplement our current solar panels on campus, we were granted the option to develop three more installations, totaling roughly 250 kWh of solar power. These will likely be completed in 2015 at no cost to Emory.
When discussing sustainability, agricultural practices and food disposal tend to be eclipsed by more sensational topics, such as carbon emissions or recycling. At Emory, we haven't let this topic slip from our vision. We think producing and disposing food in sustainable manners is just as important as any other operation.
Although we did not reach our procurement goal, we have still greatly expanded the amount of sustainable and local food served in Emory's dining halls over the past 10 years. As of 2013, 25% of both Emory's and Oxford's food is either sustainably or locally sourced
photo from Emory News Center
Campus Kitchens is a student-run organization at Emory that repurposes and donates unused food to local food kitchens and food pantries. Their mission: to fight hunger in Atlanta through sustainable food waste management while simultaneously fostering an awareness of our consumption and our role in sustainable practices.
In 2014, Oxford College launched their organic farm, which used as a "living laboratory" to teach students and the local community about sustainable farming techniques.
Earth's resources will one day run out; there's no getting around that fact. It's imperative, then, that we develop sound methods for reusing or refashioning available materials. It may take a culture-shift, but Emory has already proven itself capable of great things.
Our waste reduction methods have proved successful, as we've diverted over 2,500 tons of recylable or compostable material for the past 4 years. Last year alone, we diverted 166 tons of White Paper, 392 tons of mixed paper, 309 tons of cardboard, and composted 714 tons of food.
Recycling didn't exist before we arrived on campus. Since then, the number of options for diposing waste has skyrocketed. We offer methods for recycling plastic, aluminum, paper, batteries, scrap metal, and much, much more.
An organization that asses Emory's research and implements more sustainable practices in energy and water efficiency, recycling and waste reduction, chemical use, and procurement
"Through applied research and engaged learning, sustainability broadens students' perspectives to include our interdependence with the local and global community... We have a responsibility to be sure our students gain the knowledge and skills to tackle real-world dilemmas, using multiple standpoints from academic boundaries."
At the core of sustainability lies an understanding of earth's complex systems, both natural and man-made. Education and outreach of these topics stands as our number one mission. By promoting knowledge and awareness of global issues, we empower others so that they too can contribute to their local and global communities.
Number of courses developer or assisted in developing
(2010 - 2014)
Departments offering sustainability-related coursework
(2014)
Students taught
(2010 - 2013)
Reported sustainability related research projects
(2014)
Faculty performing sustainability related research
(2014)
Publications & research papers attributable to our initiative
(2010 - 2013)
Each year, students submit applications to garner funding for their creative ideas. In Fall 2013, over $72,000 of project funds were requested and 18 projects totaling $16,000 were funded. Past projects have included:
Scattered around Atlanta's and Oxford's campuses are gardens where students partner with faculty to tend an assortment of vegetables, fruits, and herbs while learning about the benefits of producing local and sustainably sourced food.
Our Roots Run Deep
Gold status ranking from the Association for the Advancedment of Sustainability in Higher Education
(2013 - 2014)
Ranked 11th most sustainable campus by The Princeton Review
(2009)
Ranked 16th in the Sierra Club's "Cool Schools" list of greenest U.S. colleges and universities
(2013)
We received a STARS Gold ranking, as well as the much more rigorous STARS 2.0 Gold Ranking
(2013 - 2014)
Rated as a bike friendly campus by the League of American Bicyclists
(2011 - present)
- U.S. Green Building Council
(2013)
Our sustainable food purchasing guidelines have become a national model for universities around the U.S., as well as organizations like Kaiser Permanente
Listed as a Tree Campus USA, indicating our effective management of community forests, by the Arbor Foundation
(2013-2014)
Our efforts have been recognized by many national media outlets, including CNN, The Huffington Post, and NPR. Locally, we've received attention from the Atlanta Journal Constitutition, 11 Alive News, WSB Channel 2, and other sources.
