Overcoming Obstacles to Going Green

Oh, no! You won't be getting a printed SCUP–45 Preliminary Program in the mail this year. Instead, SCUP is going green and regularly updating this digital version (PDF), which you can download at any time.

Check it out! You don't want to miss higher education's premier planning conference, and your one chance this year to assemble with nearly 1,500 of your peers and colleagues: July 10–14, Minneapolis.

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SCUP Link

Writing in American School & University magazine, Mike Kennedy surveys the barriers to going green in the design, construction, and operation of education facilities. One of those barrier may be tradition:

"To come up with the most effective green strategies for a facility, designers have to determine how the various design elements interact with one another; a seemingly innocuous change in one feature can weaken the environmental benefits that other features are expected to provide.

"Architects need to bring in engineers earlier and work out issues such as artificial lighting, daylighting, heat loads," says Dordai.

It's what architects call "integrated project delivery." "It's everybody contributing — the whole team focusing on the whole building and coming up with one vision," says Dordai.

Such cooperation seems like common sense, but for architects and engineers used to working a certain way, it can be difficult to break old habits."

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA - "Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats"
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
• April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"

New Book (free): Accelerating Campus Climate Initiatives: Breaking Through Barriers

• If you have an interest in this book, you may also have an interest in the SCUP regional one-day event happening April 7, in Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge."

This book, Accelerating Campus Climate Initiatives: Breaking Through Barriers, is the product of more than a year's research on a dozen campuses by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Download it here.

It is organized into five chapters:

• Climate Action Planning,
• Buildings & Utilities,
• Renewable Energy,
• Transportation, and
• Carbon Offsets & Associated Opportunities.

Subchapters each represent a "barrier" within the context of that chapter. So, for example, within Buildings & Utilities, there are subsections like "lack of capital," "Insufficient in-house expertise," and "Whole-system approach seems impossible." The book "explores a wide range of challenges committed campus planners are facing, including the real and perceived barriers. Real-world examples from campuses around the country help readers determine and drive projects based on a different way of thinking about buildings, utilities, perceptions, institutional structures, and all the other components comprising energy systems and campuses."

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA - "Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats"
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA - "Smart Planning in an Era of Uncertainty"
• April 7, Houston, TX - "Sustaining Higher Education in an Age of Challenge"

Colleges Map Hazy Routes to Limiting Emissions

Scott Carlson, who is the main writer covering sustainability for the Chronicle, reported recently on the first deadline for submitting climate action plans, by signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). His reporting includes brief vignettes of some of the campus plans.

For many colleges, reaching the lofty goal of climate neutrality is less important than other benefits the process yields. Ms. Nelson, of Second Nature, says that colleges in the climate commitment are prepared for mandatory restrictions in greenhouse-gas emissions, a possibility that has generated buzz recently in Washington. "You're changing the culture around energy consumption," she says, "so when legislation comes down, you're ahead of the curve."

Mr. Henry, of Richland College, says signing the commitment and now preparing a plan has helped change attitudes at his campus—and helped push projects that save money: "You don't know what kind of creativity and resources and colleagues are there until you need them."

Plan Your Holiday Trip the Greenest Way PossiblePlan Your Holiday Trip the Greenest Way Possible

The principles involved in this brief article from Scientific American relate to transportation issues around campus, too:

The simple answer is that driving in a relatively fuel efficient car (25-30 miles per gallon) usually generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than flying. In assessing the global warming impact of a trip from Philadelphia to Boston (about 300 miles), the environmental news website Grist.org calculates that driving would generate about 104 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2)—the leading greenhouse gas—per typical medium-sized car, regardless of the number of passengers, while flying on a commercial jet would produce some 184 kilograms of CO2 per passenger.

What this also means, of course, is that while even driving alone would be slightly better from the standpoint of greenhouse gas emissions, carpooling really makes environmental sense. Four people sharing a car would collectively be responsible for emitting only 104 kilograms of CO2, while the same four people taking up four seats on a plane would generate some 736 kilograms.

Guide to Climate Action Planning on Campus

SCUP and the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology Project collaborate on a new guide for campus climate action planning:

The guide says that even though more than 550 colleges and universities are working toward emission-reduction targets, “actual greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise on most campuses.” Why? “Gains from energy efficiency and conservation have been outpaced by growth in student populations and new construction,” the guide says.

A comprehensive planning process that looks behind campus borders can help, says the guide, which looks not only at campus-infrastructure challenges but also at behavior changes, green-power purchases, and carbon offsets.