University of Missouri
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Education and Research:
The University of Missouri formed the Center for Sustainable Energy (CSE) as a collaboration between the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) and the College of Engineering. Over 70 faculty members, from a wide variety of disciplines, are associated with the Center, which focuses on five areas: energy policy and management, research, education and training, service, and commercialization. CSE utilizes a number of programs already established on campus to support activities in the area of energy policy and management, and partners with some of Missouri’s two-year institutions to develop curriculum that supports the growth of jobs in energy industries. In the area of transportation fuels, CSE has a variety of on-going projects, such as utilizing nanotechnology composites to enhance methane and hydrogen storage. Other projects concentrate on enhancing biomass production, in addition to understanding and reducing any harmful environmental impacts that may arise. The MU CSE serves as a single, central portal for access to the full resources of the University with the goal of addressing the energy challenges that face our state and nation.
This year the University participated in the RMI-AASHE Accelerating Campus Climate-Change Initiative. The University along with 11 other campuses from across the nation and various sustainability organizations worked to address climate change barriers on campuses and develop solutions for those barriers.
More than 100 MU faculty from 40 different departments teach courses related to the environment and sustainability every year. Recently, the CAFNR created a Sustainable Agriculture major and minor. This program will teach students how to meet the needs of both farmers and consumers by creating agricultural systems that produce food for a growing population in a way that protects the environment and supports healthy, dynamic communities. Also noteworthy is the Architectural Studies Department which offers a class that prepares students to take the LEED AP exam.
The University's Extension program offers Missouri residents classes to educate themselves on a wide range of sustainability practices ranging from agriculture to business. The Missouri Environmental Assistance Center, is the one-stop resource for pollution prevention and environmental compliance assistance for Missouri small businesses. The Community Revitalization and Sustainability project is a community participatory process-training program. Extension specialists work with the community, enabling residents to take charge and make decisions about their own communities. This leads to enhanced community sustainability and improved environmental stewardship in both the residential and commercial sectors.
Finally, students, with the assistance of MU faculty, have taught a service-learning class on urban gardening and compositing. The first semester (fall 2008) students and volunteers established a composting system by collecting post-consumer food scraps from Rollins dining hall. The scraps were hauled with a bike trailer and composted at community gardens as well as an urban research farm managed by the class. The class also prepared a 1/16-acre plot for production and built a compost-heated greenhouse. Students designed and planted an intensive organic garden on the plot.
Campus Operations:
Energy conservation efforts began in 1990 when Energy Management implemented a program with the objective of reducing energy costs in existing space by 1% annually. Since the program’s inception the average annual reduction in energy costs has been 1.6%. This has been achieved by implementing conservation technologies, such as upgrading lighting systems and installing motion sensors, that generate a payback within 5 years or less. They also networked all campus buildings to ensure occupant comfort and increase the efficiency of the complete system. Energy Management has been able to sustain this progress despite a 10% growth in student population between 2003 and 2008.
MU’s co-generation Power Plant burns tires collected from illegal dump sites around Missouri, reducing emissions and lowering energy costs. Biomass fuels, consisting primarily of locally generated waste wood chips, replace 5% of the required coal supply. Additionally, burning these fuels reduces GHG emissions by 4% and eliminates the consumption of 16,000 gallons of diesel fuel. They are working with researchers to actively pursue the development and identification of regional biomass fuels to augment the current biomass fuels portfolio, and have recently finalized plans to install a 100% biomass boiler that will be brought online in the next 5 years.
Over the past year, the University has created an Office of Sustainability, adopted a campus sustainability statement, and signed the President's Climate Commitment. MU’s new Sustainability Coordinator is working to connect campus-wide efforts, increasing cooperation and awareness with respect to overall environmental sustainability on campus. In July a new student fee will go into effect, paying for 8 student workers and funding for sustainability-related projects. The Coordinator and student staff will be working to coordinate multiple campus efforts, working on ACUPCC reporting, and engaging campus staff, faculty, and students in sustainability efforts.
This past year Campus Dining Services (CDS) has introduced a targeted campaign against food waste in dining halls. Displays of total food wasted in each hall were used to educate students about their waste habits, and are currently exploring removing trays from dining halls. They currently compost food waste at one dining facility and are working to compost at others at a university owned farm. CDS is also committed to purchasing locally grown food but, until a significant supply line can be established, will continue with small-scale purchases.
The University participated in the national RecycleMania competition and placed 13th in the Guerrilla category. It also enrolled in the Waste Minimization component and has committed to creating accrual mechanisms to use savings in disposal costs for funding further waste-reduction initiatives, creating an active program to sell or donate campus surplus property, and replacing paper documents with online alternatives wherever possible.
Administration and Finance:
The Chancellor and University administration are in the process of adopting a statement in support of campus sustainability efforts. The statement asserts that the University of Missouri is dedicated to environmentally sustainable policies and practices that promote responsible stewardship of existing resources and the environment and even encourages individual units or departments to evaluate current policies and practices on a regular basis with the goal of adopting or improving sustainability.
The Administrative Leadership Development Program (ALDP) was created for mid-level leaders to help increase and develop their leadership potential. Each class from the program is assigned a project that they have to complete over the next year. Two years ago the 2005 ALDP class was assigned the task of creating campus sustainability guidelines. They spent the next year reviewing current policies and procedures and working with students, faculty, and staff from across campus to improve those policies. The resulting Sustainability Task Force Report is a comprehensive guide on current procedures as well as ideas on ways to make them more sustainable. The report is being used as a guide to implement and improve campus practices.
Currently, the University works with the City of Columbia by providing subsidized bus transportation on campus to approximately 7,000 people daily when school is in session. This includes bus routes between the campus and some of the heavily student populated apartment complexes. MU is partnering with the City to improve, expand and promote the extensive network of bike trails on MU property, and to network these trails with city trails. We are also increasing the number of bike racks on campus.
In December the University signed the President's Climate Commitment and is beginning to address the commitments outlined in that document. The University is working to expand its Green House Gas inventory to encompass the entire campus. Currently the inventory only incorporates the campus Power Plant.
It is the policy of the University to incorporate sustainability principles and concepts in the design of all facilities and infrastructure projects to the fullest extent possible, while being consistent with budget constraints , appropriate life cycle cost analysis, and customer priorities. This policy applies to renovation and new construction regardless of funding source or amount and to design associated with all construction methods.
According to the Sustainable Endowment Institutes Campus Sustainability Report Card the campus endowment transparency has increased from an F in 2007 to a C in 2008.
The Interdisciplinary Innovations Fund is a new grant program put on by the Information Technology Department on campus. The goal of the fund is to support projects that incorporate technology and effect or support students. In the past two years of its existence the fund has issued over one hundred thousand dollars towards sustainability projects.
Every year the Residential Life Department sets aside ten thousand dollars to fund any sustainability related projects that come up or are suggested that year. This past year that funding helped support the Building Dashboard program that was installed in three residence halls.
AASHE Bulletin
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