Sustainability. St. John s University Sustainability Initiatives

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1 St. John s University Sustainability Initiatives February 2015

2 NYC Carbon Challenge SJU commitment to reduce greenhouse gas / carbon emissions by 30% by the year 2017 from building energy consumption. In 2014 SJU achieved 24% carbon reduction from base year Additional energy projects are needed to meet the commitment (page 5). Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS began in In 2010 St. John s adopted STARS Technical Manual as its guide for development. SJU achieved STARS Silver rating in 2011 & Gold rating since SJU STARS rating expires April SJU will be conducting a new application using STARS Technical Manual 2.0 Categories of the STARS 2.0 Technical Manual ACADEMICS ENGAGEMENT OPERATIONS PLANNING & ADMIN. Curriculum Campus Engagement Air & Climate Purchasing Coordination, Planning & Governance Research Public Engagement Buildings Transportation Diversity & Affordability Dining Services Waste Health, Wellbeing & Work Energy Water Investment Grounds Innovation February

3 Student Focused Office of Sustainability partners with Residence Life to engage students in their dorms and runs numerous events throughout spring and fall semesters, i.e. Recycling and Energy Reduction Tournaments, Move-out Food & Clothing Collection, Earth Week, Campus Sustainability Day, Battle of Buildings for Spirit, Recycling Challenges, Arbor Day, Campaigns for Awareness and Involvement, Getting Caught Green Handed Raffles and, Sustainability Movie Nights. Municipal Solid Waste & Recycling SJU has a goal and plan to achieve and maintain an annual landfill diversion rate of 50%. Work efforts include implementation of Single Stream Recycling, changes in hardware (bins and signage), staff retraining, food waste recovery and, on-going community involvement. Diversion rate of 40% achieved for RecycleMania is an annual spring semester, eight week nation-wide tournament involving over 400 schools. SJU began competing in RecycleMania 2008 with a 22% diversion rate and has made improvements each year and currently at 43% diversion rate for RecycleMania Campus Conservation Nationals (CCN) April 1-26 Created in 2011 by Lucid Design Group in California, CCN is the largest nation-wide electricity reduction competition targeted at residence halls on college / university campuses. Each spring semester CCN runs for three weeks. SJU employs a web-based building dashboard that allows students to see (real-time) energy consumption in each of nine Queens Campus residence halls. CCN Results: SJU finished 4 th out of forty schools in year one; 15th out of 97 schools in year two and 5 th out of 120 schools in year three with an overall 16% reduction in electricity (82,000 KWH). February

4 Student Sustainability Coordinators Since 2008 SJU has maintained team of student workers as Sustainability Coordinators. These students perform a variety of tasks from policing campus-wide recycling of municipal solid waste and daily food waste recovery to running campaigns for student involvement in recycling and energy conservation. These student workers perform the daily collection of food waste for composting, SJU organic garden maintenance and numerous special events. EPA s Food Recovery Challenge (FRC) Program SJU is a charter participant in the FRC which has three primary actions: Food waste prevention; Food recovery for donation and; Food waste recovery for composting. SJU s students are engaged in the FRC in the following forms: Daily food waste pick up from five campus kitchens; Summer camps food recovery; Food recovery for Midnight Runs (3X weekly through Campus Ministry) and; Spring semester student move-out Food and Clothing Drive. SJU received a FRC Certificate of Achievement from EPA in December February 2015 The Arbor Day Foundation s Tree Campus USA Program Participation in Tree Campus USA has five criteria: Tree care committee; Tree care plan; Tree care program with funds; Academic Service Learning (ASL) component and; Arbor Day observance event. SJU achieved Tree Campus USA participation for 2012 and 2013 and, has submitted for Accomplishments within the program include: A new northeast native species campus arboretum; On-going ASL component to collect data from the 3,000 campus trees along with the creation of an interactive web-based campus tree map and database. 3

5 Student Community Garden The Student community garden is an organic vegetable garden built and maintained by student workers and the Student Earth Club. The garden consists of over fifty semi-raised planting beds with organic soils, automatic irrigation, and a central drainage system. Students harvest and deliver the vegetables to help support St. John s Bread & Life Soup Kitchen in Brooklyn. Over 1,000 pounds of vegetables are harvested annually. On-Site Compost System With Facilities Services, students built and maintain a medium-scale composting system designed by O2 Composting. During fall and spring semesters student workers pick up food waste on the Queens campus from five kitchens and three coffee shops. Weekly, about 3,000 pounds of kitchen trimmings (fruits, vegetables, left over starches and spent coffee grinds) are collected and mixed with 2,000 pounds of yard waste (wood chips) as feedstock for compost. Finished compost product is applied to campus grounds as part of SJU s organic landscape practices. Soils chemistry & soil biology information workshops are conducted annually highlighting the compost and organic landscape practices. Compost Tea Brewing & Application Compost made on-site is also used in compost tea brewing. After brewing the tea, organic solutions and minerals are added and the tea is applied /sprayed onto campus planting beds and tree beds. Compost tea brewing and application presents a co-curricular opportunity for students to learn about the soil biology and the soil food web. February

6 Energy Efficiency Projects $30 million being invested in ten years (2010 to 2017) Following an Investment-grade Audit in 2009, $20 million in energy efficient projects has been installed. Current annual reduction amounts to 5.5 million KWH and 727K therms of natural gas. Currently, the annual $1.86 million savings in energy budget offsets the cost of the debt for the projects. Current projects include: Medium voltage electrical distribution; Lighting projects (LED opportunities), investigation for thermal energy storage and chilled water generation plant optimization. Outreach & Marketing Some of the outside sustainability partners of SJU are: Mayor s Carbon Challenge; College Council of NYS Association of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; EPA; The Arbor Day Foundation; AASHE; Princeton Review; Sierra Club Cool Schools, NYSDEC and U.S. Composting Council. It is important to continuously reach out to the entire campus community. The Sustainability Office most often communicates with Residence Life, Student Earth Club, Learning Communities, Academic Service Learning, Student Wellness, Campus Ministry, Human Resources and many faculty members. Newest Initiatives Water bottle filling stations in resident halls and Taffner Field House. Investigation of 175 KW solar project for roof of Taffner Field House. Seven-year contract for 500KW of hydro power awarded to SJU from NYPA. Student Community Garden on the Staten Island Campus. Filing for Con Edison s Demand Management Incentive program dollars. February