Georgia Tech Receives "B" on 2010 Sustainability Report Card
Georgia Tech has once again been named a "Campus Sustainability Leader" by the Endowment Institute. This recognition continues as Georgia Tech raised all of its campus operational metrics to an "A" on the report scale. The two categories of campus operations which moved from a "B" to an "A" were "Transportation" and "Climate Change and Energy."
"In Energy and Climate Change, we have continued to expand our efforts", said Marcia Kinstler, Sustainability Director at Georgia Tech. "Only 22% of the ACUPCC signatories have met their commitment to publish their GHG inventory and Climate Action Plan. We are one of those 22% who met our commitment. We have our first Carbon Neutral Building in Design, awaiting funding. We are seeking donations and grants to add green projects to 7 projects on campus immediately with a dozen more opportunities identified. The student's Wasted Watt Energy Competition last year helped our standing. The EcoCar Challenge and Solar Jackets added to the prestige gained via the Solar Decathlon House. These are but a few examples of the extensive sustainability activities Georgia Tech participated in over the last year."
"In Transportation, I am better able to tell the story now than I was two years ago, when the Transportation was transitioning its management team so I only had publically available data to work with" said Marcia Kinstler. She is the person who compiles the successes of our operational staff, students, faculty and researchers' to respond to the various sustainability surveys on Georgia Tech's behalf. Her office is also a "Strategy Action Center for Sustainability" identifying areas where others are challenging our leadership in sustainability and working to move us back into Leadership in that area again.
The report includes seven categories of campus operations and two endowment related categories. The two endowment related categories reflect more on the creators of the survey and their perspectives than on Georgia Tech's Endowment" explained Kinstler. "Our students are taught to be collaborative, innovative, interdisciplinary, and global. They operate at the intersection of technology, policy, business and sustainability. Proxy fights seldom succeed and we find educated collaborations to be far more effective."
"Georgia Tech's Foundation has been extremely supportive of greening the campus and our sustainability efforts" says Kinstler. "The Foundation's single largest investment was to fund the Tech Square and to include seeking LEED certification in the process so the buildings would be a 'tangible symbol' to our students and the world, that we recognize the importance of educating our students to be competitive in the global economy where sustainability is increasingly an issue. They also helped sponsor the Solar Decathlon House and many other sustainability related projects on campus."
"The most rewarding aspect of being Sustainability Director and working across campus in operations, research, economic development, academics, and the community is to see the continuous improvement, and growing synergies among these various constituents" said Marcia Kinstler. "By being able to tell the whole story of Georgia Tech's sustainability efforts, we magnify the impact and recognition for our efforts. Sustainability really IS in our DNA at Georgia Tech. Our campus IS a living laboratory for sustainability."