Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter Report 2011/12
Carnegie Mellon University is a world leader in addressing environmental issues, including global warming, alternative and clean energy sources, sustainable building design, green chemistry and environmental education. Under the leadership of President Jared L. Cohon, Carnegie Mellon has made a commitment to supporting sustainability through education, research and practices, and has made transitioning to an environmentally sustainable society a strategic priority. Carnegie Mellon signed the ISCN-GULF Sustainable Campus Charter in August of 2010. Complete information about the environmental programs at Carnegie Mellon can be found at www.cmu.edu/environment.
Carnegie Mellon integrates formal and informal education, research and practice to create an inherent learning environment for our students, staff, faculty and visitors. Across all 7 colleges and within 21 interdisciplinary centers, Carnegie Mellon conducts interdisciplinary environmental and energy research. The campus-wide Steinbrenner Institute facilitates growth in the other research centers, promotes interdisciplinary environmental education, and supports the implementation efforts of the Green Practices Committee with the goal to enhance the university’s global impact on environmental matters, and fundamentally changing the way people on the university’s campus and in the broader community think and act when it comes to the environment. The Green Practices Committee is unique to Carnegie Mellon and convenes faculty, staff, students and administrators from across campus to coordinate sustainability efforts and implement environmentally progressive practices that affect facilities, campus life and transportation. The committee evaluates innovative sustainable technologies and practices (seeking to implement the most promising and cost-effective), and provides environmental and sustainability education to the entire campus community.
Carnegie Mellon has many notable accomplishments in environmental sustainability including: becoming home to the first LEED-certified university residence hall in the United States; launching the largest institutional purchase of wind energy; having 13 LEED-certified projects; presenting the first college course in green chemistry in the United States; and developing a series of four courses in sustainable engineering that has served as a model for engineering programs across the country. Most recently, Carnegie Mellon has committed to purchasing 100 percent of its electricity from green sources using renewable energy certificates.
Members of the Carnegie Mellon faculty have played a key role in shaping national and international environmental policy, serving on a number of committees including the Nobel Peace Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.N. Environment Programme Sustainable Building Construction Initiative, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council's Sustainability and Efficiency Task Force, and numerous National Academies of Science panels. In addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, faculty members have received awards for their environmental research contributions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Green Building Council, among others. Furthermore, through their research, faculty members have developed revolutionary green technologies that stand to create a more sustainable future for the world, such as thin film photovoltaic material, nanoparticles for environmental remediation, and catalysts that enhance the performance of environmentally friendly oxidizing agents.
About Carnegie Mellon University
Founded in 1900, Carnegie Mellon University is a private, global research university with more than 12,000 students, 82,000 alumni, and 5,200 faculty and staff. Recognized for its world-class arts and technology programs, collaboration across disciplines and innovative leadership in education, Carnegie Mellon is consistently a top-ranked university. Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with additional campuses in California’s Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico.
Carnegie Mellon is home to seven colleges, with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. The university’s world-renowned faculty members are practicing professionals who bring extensive knowledge and experience into the classroom. With a student-faculty ratio of 10:1, faculty members are extremely accessible and take a genuine interest in their students' work.
The university is governed by a Board of Trustees. The Board appoints the President of the University, who is the chief executive officer of the institution, overseeing all operations of the university, from academic affairs and international initiatives, to enrollment and student life, and is responsible for setting future goals and directions for the university. The President also serves as a national and international ambassador for the university community. The President acts on behalf of the Board of Trustees, which delegates its authority to him. The president consults regularly with all of the university's constituencies through committees including the Faculty Senate, the Student Advisory Councils, Staff Council, the Diversity Advisory Council and the Alumni Association's Executive Board.
Financial Information (FY 2012)
Operating Revenue and Support $1,007,374,000
Operating Expense $ $966,321,000
Endowment $987,054,000
Endowment per FTE Student $89,877
On this Report
In this report, the data provided are for fiscal year 2012 (July 2011 – June 2012). Only information for the main campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) is included.
For questions on this report, please contact:
Cheryl M. Hays or Michael Murphy
Secretary, Board of Trustees VP, Campus Affairs
Director, President's Office Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University 610 Warner Hall
605 Warner Hall Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
phone: 412.268.2057
phone:412.268.6382
fax: 412.268.2330
Principle 1 – Sustainability Performance of Buildings on Campus
Management Approach to Principle 1 Topics
Since 1998, Carnegie Mellon has had a Green Practices Committee (GPC) comprised of faculty,
staff and students that meet monthly to coordinate campus-wide sustainability efforts. The GPC has tackled various metrics of sustainability including solid waste management/recycling, food composting, green buildings, transportation, indoor and outdoor air quality, energy efficiency, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Implementation policies are directed by the GPC steering committee in consultation with upper level university managers. A comprehensive campus Environmental Assessment was completed in the spring of 2005. The assessment involved the development of quantitative measures of environmental performance. Since then, the university has prepared an annual greenhouse gas inventory.
Main Initiatives and Results
Green Buildings
As the result of discussions in the Green Practices Committee to formally edit our Design Guidelines to promote green buildings, Carnegie Mellon built the first Silver LEED rated Residence Hall in the US in 2003 and, as of 2012, has over 700,000 square feet (sq ft) of LEED Certified building space. Green roofs and rainwater management systems are included in our LEED building systems.
“The University has committed to adopting the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system for all new construction and significant renovations. All such projects shall be designed and constructed so that they will meet the current version of the LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations (LEED-NC) standard. In addition the University has established the goal of achieving a minimum of a LEED “Silver” rating. Less extensive renovations shall utilize the LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) rating system as applicable to their defined scope of work.”[1]
Purchases of Renewable Electricity (Renewable Energy Certificates)
In 2001, Carnegie Mellon made a commitment to purchase 5 percent of campus electricity needs from wind power, which (surprisingly) at the time made us the largest retail purchaser of wind power in the United States. Since that time, the University has incrementally increased this purchase to the point where in FY 2011, 100% of electricity purchased is offset by Green-E certified wind renewable energy credits.
We have committed to supplying all new buildings that are following the LEED guidelines to be served with 100% green power. We plan to maximize the purchase of up to 100% renewable electricity contingent on current market prices and university financial situation. We also hope to invest in significant energy efficiency technologies to reduce the overall load needed to be offset.
Steam Plant Efficiency
Our primary heating source, the Bellefield Boiler Steam Plant which supplies steam for heating a consortium of universities, hospitals and other non-profit institutions in the immediate vicinity of our campus used a fuel source that was a combination of coal and natural gas (with coal being the primary fuel for many of its 76 years of existence). Perennial local air quality problems, EPA Clean Air Act regulations and natural gas pricing promoted the consortium to make the decision to convert all boilers to use natural gas as a fuel.
As of July 2009, the use of coal as a fuel source was discontinued and the amount of coal purchased went from 11,000 tons per year to zero. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by the steam boiler plant have been greatly reduced by increasing efficiency and choosing a cleaner burning fuel.
Recycling & Food Composting
In 2008, food composting became commercially available in the Pittsburgh area and Carnegie Mellon was one of the initial organizations to start a program. Large near-zero waste events were motivated by three CMU graduate students after having attended the 2009 COP-15 and participating in The Global Climate Action Coalition (led by Yale University). Their resulting efforts focused on near-zero waste events with the primary goals to reduce total event waste and divert as much landfill waste as possible. A main rationale for their choice of waste reduction was to ensure that the energy-dominated causes of climate change do not lead us to ignore issues of waste management and overlook prime educational activities with our faculty, staff, and students.
Our near-zero waste launch goal was to apply best practices to freshmen orientation events for the incoming class of 2014. This endeavor demonstrated to the public that flatware, cups, napkins, and food waste can be recycled or composted for an event serving several hundred people. The final orientation dinner was an inspiring success, by composting or recycling 100% of the waste for 1600 incoming freshmen, and an educational experience for all, as well as their favorite meal during Orientation. Since then, several near-zero waste events have been held on campus, where almost everything was either composted or recycled, including our staff picnic of 2500 people. University departmental Green Teams now green their special events resulting in an increase in the volume of compost and raising awareness about low impact dining. These Green Teams have developed sharable resources for off-campus vendors that can support such events (and note where to purchase cutlery/etc that is compostable). Our campus food provider, CulinArt, offers a green lunch option when ordering food for events. We now compost 402 tons per year.
Carnegie Mellon continues to increase our recycling rate every year by adding more recyclable materials and improving the recycling processes. We participate in the annual RecycleMania, a 10- week recycling and waste reduction awareness contest between universities. In 2010, Green Practices and students, held two waste sorts to determine how much recycling was being thrown away (35-40%) from sampled locations. This project raises awareness and identifies where recycling process and educational improvements are needed.
Specific data pertaining to LEED Buildings, green roofs, utilities and recycling can be found in the CMU Fact Book.[2]
Carnegie Mellon University’s Principle 1 Goals
Topics / Goals and Initiatives / ResultsPriority topics
(with units of measurement) / Objectives and targets
(for reporting year, for the following year, and/or beyond) /
Key Initiatives (in reporting year, and /or planned for the following and beyond) / Performance 2010 / Performance 2011 / Performance 2012
Resource use
Renewable Electricity Purchase (RECs)
/ Maximize purchase up to 100% renewable electricity depending on current market prices and financial situation. / Maximize the purchase of national RECS rather than local RECS.
This enables CMU to increase the volume of RECS purchased. / 114,823 Total MWh
44,320 MWh RECs
(45% of total electricity) / 115,775 Total MWh
115,775 MWh REC’s
(100% of total electricity) / 117,858 total MWh
117,858 MWh REC’s
(100% of total electricity)
Bellefield Boiler Steam Plant -Fuel Source (DTherms) / Reduce GHG emissions generated by the steam boiler plant by increasing efficiency and choosing a cleaner burning fuel. / EPA Clean Air Act regulations and natural gas pricing, promoted the consortium to make the decision to convert all boilers to use natural gas as a fuel. / 0 tons Coal
526,766 DTherms natural gas
73% efficient / 517,636 DTherms
natural gas
74.9% efficient / 431,237
DTherms
natural gas
79.1% efficient
Energy Efficiency
(heat -BTU/sq ft) / Reduce heat requirements per square foot by 1%
per year. / Installation of more efficient windows and replaced constant volume reheat to variable volume reheat equipment. / 117.16 BTU/
square foot / 116.99 BTU/
square foot / 97.54 BTU/ square foot
Energy Efficiency
(electricity –kWh/useable sq ft) / Hold growth of electricity usage
per square foot to zero or less. / Installed variable-frequency drives (VAV) and premium efficient motors. Replaced lamps with energy efficient lighting. / 23.03 kWh/sf
(Usable square foot) / 23.14 kWh/sf
(Usable square foot) / 23.77 kWh/sf
(Usable square foot)
Rain Water Management Systems
(gallons) / Capture and use rain water for reuse in restrooms & irrigation systems. / Rain water collection systems in operation. Gates Bldg 10,000 gallon tank and CIC Bldg 8,000 gallon tank / 18,000 gallons of rain water collection systems in use. / Research and exploration of rain water or condensate water collection systems to reuse water from existing buildings. / Project in Design;
Rain water capture system for use as condenser water for chiller plants.
Waste, recycling, local emissions, and non-compliance
Recycling & Waste Mgmt
(Tons) / Continue to increase recycling rate every year by either reducing waste or improving the recycling processes. / Participate in annual RecycleMania, the 10- week recycling & waste reduction awareness contest between universities. / 24.5% recycled
3139 Tons of waste / 26.08% recycled
3090 Tons of waste / 26.24% recycled
3234 Tons of waste
Waste Sorts conducted to increase awareness and identify process improvements. / 35% of sampled waste stream could be recycled.
Food composting
(Tons) / Increase the volume of food composting at the University Center & Resnik Hall. / Established a second food composting station and plan to increase to three locations. / 278.73 tons / 367 tons / 402 tons
Near Zero Waste
Events
100% compostable events and number of attendees. / Fall 2010
Eco-Fabulous Cook-out (150)
Freshman Orientation Dinner (1600)
Finance Picnic (UTDC Green Team)
Winter 2010
CEE Holiday Party (150) (EPP/CEE Green Teams)
FMS Holiday Party (75) / Spring 2011
Staff Picnic (2500)
Fall 2011 Freshman Orientation Dinner (1600)
Winter 2011
Almost Midnight Breakfast
(900)
Numerous depts. collect kitchen waste & hold zero waste events routinely. / Spring 2012
Staff Picnic
(2500)
Fall 2012 Freshman Orientation
Dinner (1600)
Winter 2012 Almost
Midnight Breakfast
(900)
Numerous departments collect kitchen waste & hold zero waste events routinely.
Research/IT facilities and sustainability
Waste minimization in computer clusters
(impressions) / Reduce amount of paper copies in computer clusters. / Double sided printing is the default setting.
Paper printing quota since
2005 of 800
pages/year / 7 million impressions / 6.8 million
impressions / 7.4 million
impressions
Building design aspects
Green Building Practices
(square feet) / Build and renovate campus buildings by using best practices that result in efficient operation and usable buildings for long term use. / USGBC LEED
Guidelines for LEED Silver Rating, at minimum, is integrated into Campus Design and Facilities
Development. / 4,986,790
Total Sq. Ft.
506,210 sq ft
LEED Certified
10% LEED / 5,002,209
Total Sq. Ft.
714,210 sq ft
LEED Certified
14.3% LEED / 4,957,851
Total Sq. Ft.
(corrected to include only Pgh campus)
722,010 sq ft
LEED Certified
14.6% LEED
Green Roofs
(square feet) / Increase Green Roof sq ft area on campus buildings. / Gates Building more than doubles green roof space
on campus. / 41,159 Sq ft
green roofs / 41,159 Sq ft
green roofs / 41,159 Sq ft
Green roofs
Principle 2 – Campus wide Master Planning and Target Setting