The 麻豆影院 again has received a gold rating for green practices from the .
STARS is a self-reporting method developed by the to provide colleges and universities a common set of measurements and overall ratings to gauge sustainability achievements. Globally, more than 650 institutions voluntarily participate.
CU-麻豆影院 was the first in the nation to rate gold in 2010, the inaugural year of STARS, which issues ratings on a three-year basis. To date, no campus has achieved a platinum rating -- the highest possible level.
鈥淥ur cross-campus sustainability efforts in curriculum, research, recycling, community engagement and in our new -- as well as renovated -- state-of-the-art facilities makes the 麻豆影院 a model in sustainability,鈥� said CU-麻豆影院 Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. 鈥淚鈥檓 pleased the STARS rating confirms our leadership.鈥�
To ensure a concise and comprehensive report, CU-麻豆影院 enlisted the help of a third-party reviewer to affirm its 2014 filing -- a first ever among institutions participating in STARS and a move deemed 鈥渋nnovative鈥� by the STARS organization.
The review, conducted by Philadelphia-based Sustrana, a sustainability consulting firm, resulted in the addition of information to the report as well as the identification of ways CU-麻豆影院 could advance its green practices.
鈥淲e really appreciate how thorough and exacting the review was,鈥� said Dave Newport, director of CU鈥檚 and coordinator of CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 STARS reporting effort. 鈥淭he process of working with Sustrana shed light on upgrades we could make and new practices to aspire to in order to reach a variety of our sustainability goals.鈥�
CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 latest gold rating comes even after STARS was revised in recent years to be more stringent, according to Newport.
For the complete report visit . Highlights of CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 STARS gold rating include:
- Nearly a quarter of all courses at CU-麻豆影院 contain sustainability content. Some of those courses focus entirely on sustainability.
- Numerous classes use the campus as a living sustainability laboratory, studying food and dining services, air quality, climate action, health and wellness, green building, energy systems, sustainable transportation, water and zero-waste efforts at CU-麻豆影院.
- Two-thirds of campus academic departments have faculty who conduct sustainability research, over 330 faculty do nothing but sustainability research, and geoscience research alone brings in more than $100 million a year in grants from the National Science Foundation and other funders.
- CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 emission of global greenhouse gases (GHG) has flattened despite a nearly 19 percent growth in campus facilities since 2005. CU-麻豆影院 expects to attain its goal of a 20 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2020.
- CU-麻豆影院 performs particularly well in the STARS engagement category, receiving 39.22 points out of a possible 42 points, for student orientation, student life, outreach and educators programs along with numerous staff and community stakeholder efforts centered on sustainability partnerships.
- Nearly 27 percent of CU-麻豆影院鈥檚 food purchases support local听and听community-based听producers.
- A total of 17 CU-麻豆影院 facilities have received LEED certifications -- a U.S. benchmark for sustainable building design, construction and maintenance -- including five LEED platinum and 11 LEED gold ratings, as well as one LEED silver rating. Several more are in the pipeline for LEED gold, platinum or 鈥渂eyond platinum鈥� certifications.
- CU-麻豆影院 is nearly at a 45 percent recycling rate -- halfway to its goal of a 90 percent recycling rate by 2020. Groundbreaking for a new recycling center on main campus has occurred, and the facility is slated to be operational by June 2015. Coupled with expanded recycling efforts such as compost collections in all campus facilities, CU-麻豆影院 expects to attain zero-waste -- or near it -- by 2020.
Contact:
Dave Newport, 303-492-8309
dave.newport@colorado.edu
Elizabeth Lock, CU-麻豆影院 media relations, 303-492-3117
elizabeth.lock@colorado.edu