1. Establish a policy that all new campus construction will be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Silver standard or equivalent.

Yes: In fall 2006, the President’s Council for Sustainability recommended to the President and his cabinet that they establish a policy that all new construction and major renovation meet LEED certification standards. However, as a small private institution, it is not our standard practice to establish system-wide policies of this nature, but to consider capital development opportunities on a case by case basis. Since the signing of the ACUPCC, the first donation for a building upgrade was for $1.3 million dollars to upgrade the heating system and add a cooling system to our iconic and historic Stone Chapel. President Parnell made the decision, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in October 2007, to invest an extra $100,000 of that donation to install a geothermal system for both heating and cooling, which will reduce the total energy consumption of that building (even with the addition of cooling) and certainly reduce the electrical consumption (powered by coal in our city) of the building compared to a conventional chiller system. Other capital projects that are in the development pipelines have LEED certification as a priority.

Currently under construction is the O'Reilly Family Event Center (primarily for basketball), for which we are striving for a LEED Gold certification, based on the requirements of the some of the donors.

2. Adopt an energy-efficient appliance purchasing policy requiring purchase of ENERGY STAR certified products in all areas for which such ratings exist.

Yes: In October 2007. the Board of Trustrees approved a $2.24 million dollar package of deferred maintenance to upgrade the aging or inefficient HVAC systems in 11 buildings on campus.

Appliances in recently built residential areas are already Energy Star rated, and as appliances are replaced in older residential areas, they will be replaced with Energy Star rated models.

3. Establish a policy of offsetting all greenhouse gas emissions generated by air travel paid for by our institution.

Yes: We are not doing this at this time. However, we are submitting a grant proposal to the state Solid Waste District O to purchase equipment to convert our waste vegetable oil from our food service operations into biodiesel to run three of our facilities services vehicles.


We are also facilitating through a Students in Free Enterprise team in cooperation with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks the establishment of the Ozarks Carbon Exchange Fund. Once that Fund is operational, we intend to invest in it to keep our carbon offset dollars in the local economy to facilitate tree plantings and investment in renewable energy projects for our community. OCEF in 2008-09 funded numerous lighting retrofit projects across campus and in several not-for-profit organizations across the city.

4. Encourage use of and provide access to public transportation for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution.

Yes: While Springfield has a moderately well developed bus system, which operates buses on an 80/20 biodiesel mix, it does not move people around the city very efficiently. We encourage students to walk or ride their bikes to class, and to use the bus system for going downtown or to the outskirts of town. We are currently in dialogue with City Utilities about offering routes and more frequent service from campus areas to parts of town where students and employees shop and live.

The university established a policy in 2002 that subsidizes the mortgages of employees who choose to buy houses within the neighborhood surrounding the campus. This facilitates employees walking or riding their bikes to campus. Currently 18 employees (=4.5%) live within this neighborhood. 1200 students (=75% of traditional “day school” enrollment, and 24% of total enrollment, including graduate and continuing education students) live either on campus or within the campus neighborhood.

5. Within one year of signing this document, begin purchasing or producing at least 15% of our institution's electricity consumption from renewable sources.

Yes: City Utilities is our campus energy provider. Their main source of energy for electrical supply is coal, with natural gas electric supply being 2.5% and renewable biomass supply at just under 1% in 2007. They also purchase 25% of their supply from the grid , sources of the power are coal, hydropower (approx. 5%), wind (<1%) and natural gas (these are available because we have long term firm transmission contracts that allow consistent delivery). Wind power is available at a premium (10%+) but is not currently purchased on a larger scale due to limitations of available firm transmission capacity to deliver the energy. President Parnell is a past City Utilities Board member and has had numerous conversations with the General Manager about the CU strategies for delivering alternative energy to Springfield customers.


In the meantime, we are exploring two avenues for generating our own renewable energy (not including the renewable source of heat for Stone Chapel through the geothermal system). An old grain mill owned by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) that sits in the valley between the Drury and OTC campuses was donated to Drury two years ago, although it is still in operation through a lease from the university. We have been exploring funding opportunities with the state and federal governments and with private donors to develop the Tindle Mill into a Sustainable Development Innovation Center, which would also co-generate electrical power and heat for our campus (and maybe the OTC campus when surpluses occurred). City Utilities is involved in those conversations and is supportive of various development options.

The other project underway is to take one building at a time into functional energy independence. After buildings’ HVAC and lighting systems have been upgraded to the highest efficiency level possible, we will consider ways for buildings to generate their own energy needs via solar hot water heaters, photovoltaic cells, and biomass/biogas fueled generators. The first building we are focusing on is the Hammons School of Architecture, which is committing to highlight sustainable design principles within its curriculum. Its building should be a demonstration of the principles it teaches.

6. Establish a policy or a committee that supports climate and sustainability shareholder proposals at companies where our institution's endowment is invested.

No: No information provided.

7. Participate in the Waste Minimization component of the national RecycleMania competition, and adopt 3 or more associated measures to reduce waste.

Yes: We have enrolled in Recyclemania and are monitoring the diversion of paper, plastic, tin, and aluminum from our waste stream. We have a part-time student Recycling Coordinator (who is supervised by the Director of Campus Sustainability) whose primary job is to develop educational materials for the campus recycling program, to participate in community-wide events and meetings related to recycling, and to supervise paid and volunteer recycling assistants. We also employee one student Recycling Assistant who helps staff members in Facilities Services move paper, plastic and metals from building receptacles to roll-off containers at the Central Street Recycling Center, which is housed on our campus. We just received a Coca-Cola Recycling Bin award to expand our collections across campus even further.

We are also lead partners in the Central Street Recycling Coalition, which is a consortium of entities along the main axis of Central Street that includes Ozarks Technical Community College, Drury University, Central High School, the Springfield Public School headquarters, Springfield-Greene County’s Midtown Library, City Utilities headquarters, City of Springfield offices and Greene County offices. These entities have all committed to recycling in their buildings/campuses, and are welcome to transport their collected materials to the Central Street Recycling Center on the Drury campus.