By 2075, Ohio University aims to be emission-free.
Two weeks after releasing its new Climate Action Plan, the university now has two plans in place that aim to create a more environmentally friendly campus, beginning with reducing greenhouse-gas emissions such as carbon dioxide.
In 2011, OU’s carbon dioxide emissions were 118,788 metric tons, down from 125,820 metric tons in 2010.
The effort to decrease began in 2008 when President Roderick McDavis signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, declaring climate neutrality a goal. OU was the first four-year public university in Ohio to sign the document.
Last June, OU adopted its Sustainability Plan, which focuses on three main areas: citizenship, stewardship and justice.
Citizenship includes incorporating sustainability into the curriculum through more majors and classes as well as engaging students.
“A lot of it comes down to teaching the individual how to reduce their energy usage and change their personal behaviors,” said Annie Laurie Cadmus, director of the Office of Sustainability. “We can’t make any progress without the support of individuals in the campus community.”
Stewardship addresses environmental protection and major issues such as reducing institutional greenhouse-gas emissions, energy use and waste; sourcing renewable energy; and increasing recycling rates.
Justice focuses on investing in corporations that make sustainability a priority, increasing resource accountability on campus and re-allocating surplus resources to local communities in need.
Eight working groups identified and ranked 35 benchmarks. The top three are reducing institutional greenhouse-gas emissions throughout all campuses, reducing campus and building energy intensity, and increasing renewable energy generation and sourcing.
The plan also aims to reduce resource use such as water and electricity. OU increased its usage of those resources during the 2010–11 academic year, compared to numbers from 2009–10.
Various initiatives are under way among each department to address energy reduction, Cadmus said.
“I think everyone is coming up with their own creative ways to conserve energy,” she said.
A full report on the Sustainability Plan’s implementation will be available in June.
On April 24, the Office of Sustainability released the first draft of its Climate Action Plan, which focuses on the reduction of institutional greenhouse gases and is more measurement-based than the Sustainability Plan.
Of 2011’s 118,788 metric tons emitted, almost 75 percent, or 88,165 metric tons, came from purchased electricity.
One of the university’s first steps toward achieving carbon neutrality is establishing plans to test natural gas in the Lausche Heating Plant this summer and ultimately be coal-free by 2015.
“Going off coal will certainly help reduce emissions,” said Camille Scott, president of OU’s Sierra Student Coalition. “And it made it easier for the people working on the Climate Action Plan to focus on reducing emissions in other areas because they didn’t have to worry about coal.
Greenhouse gases are the central issue addressed in both plans because of their role in human-induced climate change. Emissions stem mainly from our energy demands.
“None of these schools want to be on the trailing edge of energy trends,” said Nachy Kanfer, a Midwest states representative for the Sierra Club. “It’s bad economically, and it’s bad for them as institutions.”
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