AASHE and Rocky Mountain Institute Release Guide to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions on College Campuses

12.04.2009 – Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), in collaboration with AASHE, this week announced the release of a new book titled “Accelerating Campus Climate Change Initiatives: Breaking Through Barriers.”

The book is a practical guide to help higher education institutions get past specific barriers to mitigating carbon emissions and managing their energy costs. It is designed for anyone in a college or university setting who is working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on their campus. Chapters explore the challenges, both real and perceived, to achieving significant reductions and provide examples of successful initiatives and resources necessary to address the challenges. “Accelerating Climate Change Initiatives” is available as a free download: http://www.aashe.org/resources/aashe_guides.php

The collaborative project allowed AASHE’s experience with campus leadership to complement RMI’s solutions orientation and whole-system analysis. According to RMI senior consultant Michael Kinsley who led the effort, “This book goes beyond a focus on best practices or individual projects to help readers solve problems based upon a different way of thinking about buildings, utilities, institutional programs, and many other components of a campus energy system.” AASHE partner Judy Walton added: “There is a sense of urgency on campuses around climate change. People want solutions and actions with great impact, but often find themselves bumping up against similar barriers.”

Twelve campuses were selected for site visits based on the diversity of their conditions, and their experiences shaped several of the barriers and solutions described in the book:
• Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
• Furman University, Greenville, SC
• Harford Community College, Bel Air, MD
• Lakeshore Technical College, Cleveland, WI
• Luther College, Decorah, IA
• Richland College, Dallas, TX
• Tufts University, Medford, MA
• Unity College, Unity, ME
• University of Minnesota at Morris, Morris, MN
• University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
• University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
• Yale University, New Haven, CT

Through an anonymous foundation, each of the participating campuses was provided with a grant to execute carbon reduction programs tailored to that campus. For more information, please visit http://www.rmi.org/rmi/Campuses.