ASU Sustainability Operations 2015 Annual Review

91357 2687809 81424 1455969 2659 45 24.1 4 1 Sustainability students*

gallons of discharge water reclaimed

solar panels

riders on campus shuttles

tons of waste diverted from landfills

LEED-certified buildings

MWdc of solar power

campuses** goal

Sustainability Operations Arizona State University Annual Review 2015

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Sustainability Operations at ASU As an institution of higher education that thrives on finding solutions to global challenges, Arizona State University focuses on sustainability as one of its core values. The university is a sustainability operations and practices leader among its peers across the country and continues to find innovative ways to serve as a living laboratory—one at the leading edge of impact and higher education.

In 2015, ASU took measurable steps to reduce consumption, maximize efficiency by focusing on four key areas: climate neutrality, zero solid and water waste, active engagement, and principled practice.

This annual review summarizes ASU’s continued efforts over the last year to meet its overall corporate sustainability practice goals and to be accountable to its stakeholders.

ASU’s efforts to become more sustainable also were recognized nationally through various awards and recognition programs, including:

• ASU received a Gold rating from the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System™ (STARS).

ASU is one of only 82 colleges and universities nationally to achieve Gold.

• ASU moved up 15 spaces to eleventh on Sierra Magazine’s Cool Schools ranking of the nation’s greenest universities.

• The university scored 97 out of 99 points and was featured prominently in The Princeton Review’s 2015 Guide to 332 Green Colleges.

• ASU was ranked number one in the country for sustainable purchasing practices by AASHE in its 2015 Sustainable Campus Index.

LEED-certified buildings comprising 4,162,948 GSF

The U.S. Green Building Council awarded ASU one LEED certification:

• Gold: College Avenue

Commons, Tempe campus

College Avenue Commons LEED-Gold Certified

Climate Neutrality

Zero Waste

ASU is committed to becoming a climate-neutral institution by 2025 in relation to greenhouse gas emissions from building energy sources, and completely climate neutral, including elimination of emissions related to travel and other sources, by 2035.

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As of Dec. 31, on-campus solar photovoltaic and thermal production capacity equates to 24.1 MWdc, producing about 40.5 MWh annually, which is equivalent to approximately 13 percent of ASU’s electrical load.1

• Renewable energy offsets approximately 21,600 MT CO e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) per year and reduces ASU’s carbon footprint by 6.6 percent.

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• The U.S. Green Building Council awarded ASU one LEED •

Gold certification for the College Avenue Commons building on the Tempe campus.

The Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund (SIRF) has provided $7.7 million in investments since FY 2010 for ASU energy conservation projects that deliver a real return.

The 2015 return on investment was $1 million.

ASU previously committed to achieving zero solid waste by 2015 and zero water waste by 2020.

• ASU achieved a 33.7 percent waste diversion rate, which is nearly 2,659 tons of waste from four campuses, including athletics and outlying properties.

• Four hundred twenty-three Arboretum volunteers harvested and packaged 3,600 pounds of dates for sale and applied 8,000 pounds of used campus coffee grounds to Campus Harvest trees and campus gardens as fertilizer.

• The Sustainability Initiatives Revolving Fund (SIRF)

funded eight low-flush urinals in the Tempe campus Memorial Union. Each urinal has the potential to conserve 30,000 gallons of water per year.

• In March, ASU Zero Waste and the Zero Waste Partners student organization launched front-of-house compost collection in kitchenettes in the University Services Building and Wrigley Hall. The pilot program diverts an average of 450 pounds of food and low-grade paper waste per month.

• ASU Parking and Transit Services sold 5,170 Student

• ASU Zero Waste and Aramark expanded back-of-house

• The ASU-Enterprise car share agreement provides

• ASU Zero Waste partnered with Residence Life and

U-Passes and 712 Employee Platinum Passes. The passes are sold at a subsidized rate and provide a cost-effective, sustainable and convenient travel option.

25 short-term rental vehicles to 622 members across four campuses.

• ASU Parking and Transit Services issued 311 carpool •

parking permits.

As of Dec. 31, 2015, ridership on ASU Parking and Transit Services’ free intercampus shuttle service increased to 1,455,969 riders.

composting into Polytechnic and West campus dining halls.

In 2015, 214 tons of food waste was diverted from seven dining halls.

Goodwill Industries to collect more than 24.28 tons of food, clothing, furniture and other reusable items during the annual Ditch the Dumpster residence hall move-out collection drive.

• ASU Zero Waste launched the Blue Bag collection

program in February to collect items like candy wrappers, coffee capsules and e-waste, which has diverted 1,100 pounds of material.

• The 2015 annual ASU Staff Council barbecue on the

Tempe campus achieved a 99.97 percent diversion rate, which is the highest in ASU history for an event that served more than 2,700 people.

• West Campus Facilities Management launched

landscape green waste collection and diversion in August.

ASU-wide, 3.9 tons of a total of 352 tons of green waste was diverted from the landfill.

• Tempe Campus Facilities Management’s operations

and maintenance activities diverted 65 tons of wood waste to use for compost.

• Phase One of the Sun Devil Stadium renovation

project diverted 97.35 percent of construction waste from landfills. Newly installed materials contained 35.74 percent recycled content.

• The ASU Tempe campus Central Plant reclaimed

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ASU sells most of the renewable energy credits (RECs) associated with its on-campus solar projects in order to help third-parties meet their renewable energy goals and to help finance the construction of these projects. However, in order to meet its own sustainability goals, ASU purchases approximately an equivalent amount of RECs from various renewable energy sources.

2,687,809 gallons of discharge water from the reverse osmosis system. The plant pumped 2,612,653 gallons to the cooling towers for the campus chillers. ASU Grounds Services used 75,156 gallons for power washing. Since 2010, 12,187,809 gallons of water have been reclaimed.

Principled Practice

• All ASU employees are evaluated on their sustainability

contribution efforts in their yearly personnel evaluations.

• The League of American Bicyclists awarded ASU’s bicycle

program Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly University status for the Downtown Phoenix and Polytechnic campuses. Coupled with Tempe’s existing Gold Level status, ASU is the only university to have multiple certified campuses.

• The Tempe City Council recognized ASU’s bicycle program

Active Engagement

and the Office of the University Architect for introducing bike boxes, sharrows and contra-flow bike lanes on the Tempe campus. The university’s efforts helped Tempe reach Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community status.

• The Farmers Market @ the ASU Tempe campus

• Cumulatively, 3,844 ASU faculty, staff and students have

• Three science classes from the ASU Polytechnic

• University Sustainability Practices manages a

produced gross sales of more than $100,000 for vendors and farmers.

Preparatory Academy and the ASU Preparatory High School cultivated 12 garden plots in the Polytechnic campus community garden to grow organic vegetables. Gardeners logged more than 2,409 hours.

• The Cooley Leadership Program at the Polytechnic

campus awarded 115 certificates to ASU 101 students.

Awardees completed volunteer hours, the Sustainability Literacy Test, and either the Green Housing Green Classrooms or Green Events certifications.

• One hundred forty-six volunteers harvested five tons of

Seville oranges on the Tempe campus. Grounds Services partnered with Sun Orchard Juicery and Aramark to harvest, juice and serve the juice on campus.

• ASU boasts many sustainability-focused student

organizations, including the Barrett Sustainability Club, Campus Student Sustainability Initiatives, the Green Devils, the Farmers Market Student Ambassadors, Greenlight Solutions and welcomed the creation of Zero Waste Partners to support sustainability activities.

• Zero Waste Ambassadors and staff volunteers

engaged 8,198 students, staff, and visitors at 41 events regarding the role every individual can take to achieve zero waste at ASU.

• ASU Parking and Transit Services supported various

transportation sustainability festivals and activities to encourage ride-sharing, bicycling, walking and public transit.

• The Green Devil Network grew to more than 50 faculty and •

staff members to promote a culture of sustainability at ASU.

Since 2014, the Sustainability Solutions Festival has engaged more than 15,000 people and featured a dynamic partnership among three sustainability pioneers: ASU, The Sustainability Consortium and the GreenBiz Group.

• Students in a Designing Living Buildings

class created the conceptual design of a Living Building for the headquarters of the Resource Innovation and Solutions Network (RISN).

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earned Sustainability Literacy Education certificates.

The interactive, online program provides examples of how everyone can support ASU’s sustainability commitment. comprehensive Green Certifications Program for sustainability efforts in events, housing, labs, offices, shops and sports.

More than 557 certifications have been issued since 2011.

• To encourage and promote sustainability practices, ASU

President Michael M. Crow recognized these programs with the President’s Award for Sustainability:

• Clinton Global Initiative University Zero Waste event • Seville Orange Juicing Partnership • Sustainability Science Education Project, a partnership

of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and the BioDesign Institute

• ASU Tempe Grounds Services/Zero Waste received the SRP Award for Environmental Stewardship Crescordia award from Arizona Forward for their “long standing, sustainable commitment to improving the environment.”

• Research conducted by the Walton Sustainability

Solutions Initiatives demonstrated a net positive impact from information and communication technology in online education of between 30 and 70 metric tons of avoided CO2e emissions per student.

Visit zerowaste.asu.edu, asusolar.asu.edu and cfo.asu.edu for more information.

Arizona State University Sustainability Operations P.O. Box 877505 Tempe, AZ 85287-7505 ©2016 Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University. *From the cover: 20,019 ASU students attend 100 percent online while 71,388 attend in person. **The ASU knowledge enterprise includes the Thunderbird School of Global Management. At the close of 2015, sustainability operations at Thunderbird were not fully incorporated, and supporting data are not included in this annual review.

Data in this document reflect reporting through Dec. 31, 2015.

Photography by: Andy DeLisle, FJ Gaylor, Robin Kiyutelluk, Bruce Liddil, W. Scott Mitchell, Alyssa Pakes.

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