Unity College Strategic Plan, 2014-2019
Unity College Strategic Plan, 2014-2019
Goal 4:
Align the College’s curriculum, activities, and operations with the goal of
sustainability.
Sustainability science and elements of sustainability can be integrated into all aspects of
academic programming at Unity College. A broad approach to teaching sustainability will make us unique among all institutions of higher learning in the United States. More importantly, it will prepare our students to be leaders in responding to environmental and sustainability crises of this century. Implementing sustainability programming into the Unity College curriculum and all aspects of operations is the foundation for the success of our graduates.
Operational sustainability goes hand-in-hand with curricular sustainability. Indeed, it is
inconsistent that non-sustainable operational actions can be implemented on a campus striving to make a national name for itself in sustainability. Moreover, operational sustainability is fundamental to fiscal sustainability as highlighted in this document. Indeed, the axiom that “wealth isn’t defined by how much you earn (i.e. revenue) but rather how much you spend (i.e. operational fixed costs)” is apropos to Unity College with its modest endowment. Energy costs must be reduced, with a long-term goal of eliminating them. Most importantly, Unity College can model for the nation and the world that an effective energy policy will decrease costs while reducing carbon emissions, a point that seems to have been largely missed by policy makers and the environmental community that continues to focus on a carbon policy.
OBJECTIVE 1:
Develop a fully-staffed office of sustainability with expertise capable of advancing
sustainability in all aspects of College programming and operations.
Initiative: Office HR. Professionalize the sustainability office operations to include ongoing grant seeking and proven academic leadership.
Action: Completed in March, 2014
Action:Back-fill the Sustainability office staff with an assistant director or coordinator who can serve in a variety of roles ranging from supporting student activism to recycling to enhancing local foods procurement and grant writing.
OBJECTIVE 2:
Instill all aspects of institutional planning with comprehensive sustainability guidelines.
Initiative: Divest the Unity College endowment from the top 200 fossil fuel companies.
Action: Completed. Investment firm instructed to minimize exposure to the top 200 fossil fuel companies in November 2012. Currently policy for all future investments with goal of maintaining holdings at any given time below 1 percent of investments.
Initiative: Standing Committee for Campus Sustainabilityto be formed and charged by executive team to review and uphold Unity College policies and procedures and make recommendations to senior staff for incorporation of sustainability. Membership: representative frm each building and major department. Committee to be chaired by sustainability director (creation in September, 2014)
Initiative: Sustainability in major decision-making processes. Sustainability office input to be integral in all major decision-making processes thatinvolve construction, renovations, and energy use.
Action:Sustainability Director to be member of senior management committee and part of the executive team.
Action:Sustainability Director to chair the Innovations and New Initiatives Committee (so voted April, 2014)
Action:Sustainability Director or designee to be part of all building design and construction committees.
Action:Sustainability Director to be a member of the budget committee
Action:Office to develop sustainable purchasing and construction management policies for campus.
- Policy for future Power Purchase Agreements (May, 2014)
- Policy for net zero carbon and net zero energy new construction (May, 2014)
- Policy to phase out fossil fuel HVAC for non-fossil fuel beginning immediately (June, 2014)
- Policy for efficiency standards for vehicle replacement, including HEVs and EVs (June, 2104)
- Demonstration projects for lowering carbon emissions (biodiesel conversion student project)
- Develop and execute plan for phasing in short-haul campus electric vehicles.
Initiative: Recycling. Modernize the process and infrastructure of recycling and enhance efficiency. Off-load routine operations of waste management and recycling to Facilities Management with oversight by the Sustainability Office.
Action: Invest in an enhancement of the infrastructure that supports re-cycling and streamline the process to include zero-sort recycling (Target: July 1, 2014 for new plan, implementation August, 2014)
Initiative: Pursue Power Purchase Agreements with investors to maximize energy production on campus.
Action: Rooftop PPA. Develop relationships with investor PV providers as needed to increase campus rooftop solar PV capacity to ~200 KW based on estimated available roof area.
Action:Groundmount PPA.Add an additional 300KW ground mount solar PV to bring PV capacity to ~70% of total campus need.
Action:Conservation PPA. Evaluate the finances of a Negawatts performance-based PPA with an energy company to increase the efficiency of campus buildings.
OBJECTIVE 3:Infuse sustainability across the curriculum.
Initiative: Sustainability in academic programs. Market academic sustainability internally as one component of enhanced infusion of sustainability science across the curriculum.
Action:Propose initiatives to INIC such as a Sustainability minor and developing sustainability outcomes in syllabi for each course on campus
Action: Sustainability director to seek faculty title (voted by the faculty, April, 2014).
Action: Develop and conduct a survey of incoming students annually to ascertain values, perceptions, and actions that relate to energy, water, recycling, and general sustainability. Repeat in four years for each class. Use this to determine effectiveness of message and changes needed to make it a life choice.
Action:Develop a life skills sustainability course required of all majors
Action: Develop sustainability minor for which many course count making it easy for students to double minor. Sustainability Office to teach one course in this minor.
Action: Require sustainability science learning outcomes in each Unity College course syllabus.
Initiative: Develop partnerships and articulation agreements with partner institutions, agencies, businesses, and governments to provide real-world sustainability experiences and classes for students.
Action. Office to work with students on sustainability projects on and off campus
Action:Communicate with potential partners including Thomas College, KVCC, MOFGA, MSAS, MFT, Revision and SunDog Solar, EMT, others.
Action: Consult with leaders at other institutions to determine best practices for integration of sustainability science across the curriculum.
OBJECTIVE 4:
Advance the cause of sustainability to faculty, staff, students, prospective students, andexternal audiences.
Initiative:Social marketing of sustainability. Market energy conservation and value of renewables internally to sway the life choices of faculty, staff, and students.
Action:Develop incentive-based program for employees to reduce energy use at home (completed April, 2014)
Action: Acquire plug-in hybrid for president as marketing symbol of campus sustainability (completed, April, 2014)
Action: Develop carbon credit products to encourage donors to fund continued acquisition of renewable energy generating capacity as part of the national Billion Dollar Green Challenge.
Action: Refurbish, install, give away and/or loan the Carter White House solar panels for maximum marketing potential. Find a funder for action item.
Action:Streamline the process for data collection on energy use and production into spreadsheets.Release regular energy updates, production, and C emissions from campus facilities by fall, 2014.
Action: Market successes, costs of energy, and trends in campus carbon emissions bothinternally and externally.
Action: Enlist students to convert at least one Unity College vehicle to biodiesel as ademonstration project.
Action:Install and market two Level 2 charging stations on campus both advertised as solar charging stations by adding solar PV panelsnearby.
OBJECTIVE 5:
Create a fully sustainable campus, including achieving a net zero carbonfootprint, zero stormwater runoff, and a large increase in local food served on campus
Initiative:Pedestrian Campus. Develop a long-term vision for a pedestrian campus and assure that all future development and infrastructure is consistent with this plan.
Action:Develop LID stormwater plan to include policies, targets and guidelines for construction, re-construction, and landscaping that are state-of-the-art LID/infiltration BMPs including ADA compliance. Plan to serve as a model of land use designed to create resilience to climate change.
Action: Develop concepts for solar PV covered parking areas and campus walkways.
Initiative: Half Moon Gardens and McKay Agricultural Field Station. Develop entrepreneurial business model at Agricultural Research Field Station in connection with business and management curriculum, including but not limited to supplying more food to the dining hall, more fully developing the local foods economy of central Maine and selling high value specialty produce.
Action: Submit grant(s) to fund PV-powered non-fossil fuel HVAC at HMG (started in April, 2014).
Action: Collaborate with Thomas College and partner with local entities committed to local foods in collaboration with the HMG and/or hire a local foods entrepreneur capable of developing partnerships and markets.
Action:Partner with local entities committed to local foods in collaboration with the HMG and/or hire a local foods entrepreneur capable of developing partnerships and markets.
Action:Following the lead of other institutions, create a prototype farm surrounding the College Barns on campus, and at the McKay Agricultural Field Research Station. Grow food seasonally outside and inside to meet a target of 80% of the food consumption on campus.
Initiative: Efficiency and renewable improvementsacross campus.
Action: Engage Efficiency Maine to fund a retrofit program for HVAC efficiency improvements.
Action:Develop plan for solar hot water installations throughout campus.
Action: Develop plan and funding to install solar thermal air systems on south side ofbuildings with significant south facing walls.
Action: Engage with Efficiency Maine to continue upgrade of campus lighting.
Action:Seek foundation and corporate funders of new and renovated buildings to increaseprogress toward net zero carbon at a pace accelerated beyond what the campus budget cansupport.
Action:Seek funding for and construct a Technology Wall for instrumentation thatmonitors all renewable and efficiency technology on campus as a showpiece for campus toursand student recruiting.
Action: Evaluate additional renewable energy sources for campus or nearby asdemonstration or instructional projects (e.g. vertical axis wind towers, eco-hydro, CHP biomass,sustainable harvesting of campus forest).
Initiative: Marketing sustainability expertise. Expand marketing of our sustainable campus and the brand of Unity College leadership.
Action: Buy the URLs UnityEnergy.com and UnityEnergyStrategies.com to hold theoption that Unity College will develop a regional or national reputation in renewableenergy and campus carbon emission reductions such that sustainability consulting as a revenue stream will become an option for the President and Sustainability Office.
Appendix 1. Checklist for bidders on construction and renovations projects at Unity College
Required addendum to RFP package
To help meet the official Unity College goal of reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by 2019, all construction projects on campus are expected to meet or exceed the targets below using creative methods to contain costs.
____ Is project designed to passive house energy standards or LEED Gold energy standards or better?
- R-70 attic insulation or better, plus expanding foam insulation as air sealer and/or rigid foam to reduce thermal bridging
- R-35 walls or better, with reduced thermal bridging
- R-20 basement/slab or better, taped and glued
- U-0.25 (R-4) windows or better
- High solar gain windows on south side, low E windows elsewhere
- R-10 doors or better
- HRV plus detailed attention to air sealing? (target: 1.0 ach50 or LEED Gold Standard)
- Daylighting wherever practical
_____ Is the HVAC designed for net zero emissions of CO2? Examples:
- Air source heat pumps for heating and cooling, or equivalent HVAC;
- Radiant floor heat with solar thermal assist;
- Biomass CHP
_____ Do proposed renewable energy systems include, but are not limited to:
- Solar PV,
- Solar thermal domestic hot water assist,
- Solar thermal radiant heat assist, and/or
- Biomass or biomass CHP
_____Are additional renewable or efficiency technologies included for educational and
demonstration purposes?
- Solar thermal hot air walls
- Solar thermal assist for radiant heat
- Combined solar PV solar thermal
- Small wind generators
- Hybrid domestic water heaters
- Eco-hydro
- Ground source heat pumps
- Dual PV systems for grid-tie & off-grid
_____ Are all light fixtures either LED or individually solar powered (exterior lights)?
_____ Is the project net-zero stormwater runoff (minimal impervious surfaces)?
_____ Are state-of-the-art water use reduction methods proposed?
_____ Is the project designed for ease of minimizing waste and maximizing re-cycling?
_____ Will contractor(s) separate construction debris to meet the highest re-cycling standards?