UMBC President summarizes our advances in sustainability

From the 2013 Legislative Testimony, Dr Freeman Hrabowski, III, UMBC President

SUSTAINABILITY

Our campus community is working to address global warming every day. Through our research and academic programs, we are producing knowledge and a new generation of informed citizens and leaders to move Maryland and the nation toward dramatically reduced emissions of greenhouse gases. We are part of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Our Climate Change Task Force has developed an action plan and is actively implementing projects to reduce our carbon footprint on campus and beyond. Through climate change initiatives, the campus has reduced its net emissions by 13.3% over the past five years, a major reduction considering the 15% increase in enrollment and 2% increase in campus square footage during this time period. The additional square footage includes a LEED Gold Certified addition to Patapsco Residence Hall, complete with our campus’s first green roof, as well as Phase 1 of our new Performing Arts and Humanities Building built to LEED Silver standards.

As of 2012, 20% of UMBC’s electricity comes from renewable resources, utilizing our long-term contract with the University System of Maryland. A Chilled Water Optimization project significantly improves the efficiency of the Central Plant and cooling for most of the campus, reducing annual energy usage by 5,700,000 kWh and reducing annual Greenhouse Gas emissions by 3,100 metric tons eCO2. Relative to a baseline year of 2007, this represents a 7% reduction in electricity and 3.5% reduction in carbon footprint.

UMBC hired its first full-time Environmental Sustainability Coordinator in 2012, and the Student Government Association is funding five sustainability interns this year. Student participation in a new composting program and in Recyclemania, a 10-week national competition involving 400 colleges and universities, has boosted the campus’s recycling rate to 28%. The university has also made significant advances in green transportation initiatives, including optimizing UMBC transit service routes and schedules, a new carpooling policy, improved vanpooling and public transit options, and improvements to make the campus more bike- and pedestrian-friendly.

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