American University

American University Sustainability Logo

Campus Category

Four year and graduate institutions 5,000 – 15,000 student FTE

Contact Information

Lindsay Madeira
Manager, Sustainability Programs
Office of Sustainability

Education and Research

As a DC-based institution with a strong international focus and deemed one of the most politically active student bodies in the nation, AU is committed not only to teaching about the world around us and promoting virtues of social and ecological justice, diversity and respect for other ways of thinking and living but, concomitantly, applying these lessons at home within the campus community. To demonstrate AU's institutional commitment to infusing sustainability across the curriculum and into research agenda's, American University became a signatory of the Talloires Declaration in 2006, in acknowledgement that Universities "play a major role in the education, research, policy formation, and information exchange" needed to move towards a sustainable future.

To implement this vision, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) teamed up with the student Environmental Group, "Eco-Sense," to create a "Green Teaching Certification Program" where Faculty who meet a list of "green criteria" including incorporating sustainability content into curriculum and practicing sustainability in the classroom, are eligible to receive certification. Professors who meet Green Certification Criteria have their submissions published on the CTE website and made available for students to make informed course decisions and take a proactive approach to promoting sustainability on campus. This past Spring, certified 77 Faculty members taught 123 courses in which 2,776 students were enrolled. For more information: http://www1.american.edu/cte/greenteaching/

AU also offers Alternative Spring Breaks supporting Ecological Service Trips, houses a Center for Environmental Film Making that endorses a Code of Best Practices for Sustainable Film Making to support resource and carbon reduction, offers Majors in Environmental Studies, and Graduate Degree Programs in Global Environmental Politics, Natural Resources & Sustainable Development, among others. Students may also participate in "Practice of Environmentalism Courses" including overseas study, International Development "Skills Institutes" teaching hands-on renewable energy technology concepts and, this fall, a course in "Applied Sustainability" being created around practicing sustainability on campus.

AU has also involved students in supporting data collection towards completion of its Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Scope 3 Emissions from Transportation and Commuting, completed a Trays vs. Trayless Waste Analysis research project this past Spring, will be hosting this year's Collective Biodiesel Conference (CBC) this Summer (http://collectivebiodiesel.org/Welcome.html), and is launching a Sustainability Website in the Fall of 09.
 

Campus Operations

In the area of campus operations, some ways AU demonstrates sustainability leadership is through the following initiatives:

1) Renewable Energy

  • Offsite Generation: AU purchases Green-e Certified Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in an annual volume representing roughly 26% of the University’s total annual electricity consumption
  • On-site generation: AU is engineering the installation of a steam turbine on campus to utilize waste heat from the University's Central Steam Plant to produce electricity on campus. In addition, we are reviewing plans with the engineer to build a new innovative vertical access wind turbine.

2) Energy Efficiency

  • Building Automation System, a computer-based monitoring system that coordinates, organizes, and optimizes building control subsystems, including lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, equipment scheduling, and alarm reporting
  • Lighting Retrofits/Upgrades (e.g. all university lighting is T-8)
  • Installed Motion sensors, employ night time temperature set -backs to reduce loads at off-peak hours
  • Installing utility sub-meters in campus buildings to provide improved data on campus utility consumption patterns

3) Waste Minimization

  • We recycle 43% of our total waste stream
  • Recycling pilot program that emphasizes student participation and on-campus sorting
  • Expanded recycling capacity (to include lamp, computer, battery, and ink cartridges)
  • Kitchen Grease is recycled into Biodiesel that fuels machinery at a local MD Organic Compost Farm to produce organic compost, which returns to the university as soil amendment

4) Water Conservation

  • Water conservation technologies- Low –flow shower heads, Faucet restrictors, Dual flush valves, Ultra low flow urinal flush valves
  • High Efficiency Landscape Irrigation System utilizing a Central Control Computer System and an On-site Weather Station
  • Rapid leak response protocol

5) Green Building

  • Constructing a new School for International Service, expected to earn a "Gold" LEED Certification from the USGBC
  • 30 buildings registered under the USGBS's Portfolio Program for LEED Certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
  • Establishing a Green Building Policy which requires all New Construction to meet the USGBC's LEED Silver standard or equivalent.

6) Green Fleet

  • Electric Vehicles, Bio-diesel powered vehicles, Hybrid pickup trucks, T3 Motion transporters
  • Sustainable commuting options, public transportation, Zip Cars, ride-board program, etc.
  • Student-run Bike share program
  • "No-Idling" policy


7) Sustainable Sites

  • Quad maintenance pilot program focused on an organic landscape approach
  • Annual Campus Beautification Day Planting
  • Our Landscape Wastes become processed into organic compost that supports  microbial populations & soil fertility
  • Campus Arboretum - offsets roughly 200 MT of Carbon Dioxide per/yr.
  • Integrated Pest Management (IMP) Approach
  • Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program
  • Student-directed Community Garden
  • Seasonal Farmer's Market on campus

 

Administration and Finance

AU is fully committed to exercising sustainability leadership in the area of admin./finance. In addition to its commitment to environmental literacy and the practice of sustainability via the Talloires Declaration, AU is also a signatory of the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), a commitment which acknowledges that universities have an obligation to exercise leadership in their communities to model ways to minimize the impacts of climate change, by providing educational platforms to empower graduates beyond campus. Signatories commit to the development of a plan to achieve carbon neutrality by a target date and reduction measures established by the university. We are in the process of determining our baseline Greenhouse Gas Emission Footprint in order to design and implement our Climate Action Plan to achieve neutrality.

Our approach will be first to target areas where we can achieve the greatest emission reductions, by effecting efficiency and conservation measures and by promoting movement towards behavioral change that will result in lowering our total emissions across various greenhouse gases and activities. Once we have reached our proposed target through the reductions, we will achieve a net zero carbon state by offsetting our remaining emissions through the purchase of a portfolio of clean energy options.
We are constantly engaged in presenting both to internal and external audiences our various sustainability initiatives, both in achieving carbon neutrality and moving the campus towards a more sustainable future, including infusing the concepts and practice of sustainability into campus operations, curriculum, and institutional policy. To this end, the Manager. of Sustainability Programs has participated in a range of events, including: (1) Presentation to the Smithsonian to share knowledge/best practices and provide strategic sustainability guidance (2) AASHE Conference [Fall ‘09] (3) APPA Fall Conference (‘09), etc. Upon finishing our GHG Inventory, we will be releasing a report and our Climate Action Plan articulating our targets for achieving carbon neutrality (Summer ‘09) and laying out a path of emission reduction options (May ‘10).

To support its sustainability commitment, AU has developed an Office of Sustainability comprised of 2 full-time staff, including a Director of Sustainability and a Manager of Sustainability Programs. AU has instated a Climate Action Team comprised of students, staff, and faculty to provide support and guidance around implementation of the ACUPCC, which is further supported by the Environmental Issues Project Team, a team that has been driving much of the sustainability movement on campus for the last decade, tasked with executing sustainability initiatives across campus including the promotion of environmental literacy, the formulation of sustainability policies, and the recommendation of operational improvements to minimize the Universities ecological footprint.
 

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