What the heck is sustainability?

In a previous posting I mentioned that we are seeing increasing interest in sustainability from students. But I put the word "SUSTAINABILITY" in quotation marks. I did it because sustainability means many different things to many different people. For me sustainability is really about high performance, achieveing goals in the most efficient manner using the minimum amount of resources necessary.

One important aspect of sustainability is to minimumize impacts on global climate and to reduce the carbon footprint. On college campuses this has involved the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Just recently the UMass campus has put forward its Climate Action Plan. The Climate Action Plan was compiled through the collaborative effort of over 100 students, faculty and staff, and was overseen by the Environmental Performance Advisory Committee (EPAC). The Climate Action Plan describes initiatives that that the campus has already undertaken to combat global climate change and puts forward a plan to fulfill the goal of the ACUPCC as we move toward a more sustainable future. Six hundred and sixty seven colleges have signed onto the commitment. Chancellor Holub has said "Even though carbon neutrality is a lofty goal, especially for an institution our size, we are dedicated to developing innovative ideas and technologies that will help us achieve this goal."

The campus also has a sustainability coordinator, Josh Stoffel. One of Josh's real sucess stories was the creation of the Eco-Rep program on campus, where dedicated students are able to raise environmental awareness right in the dormitories.

UMass has built a state-of-the-art cogeneration plant and over the past several years has engaged with Johnson Controls on an energy service contract to find ways to reduce energy use on campus. The results have been a 24% reduction in steam use, a 43% reduction in water use, a 9% reduction in electicity use, and a 29% overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Way to go UMass!