Progress Report for Chatham University

Chatham University has been integrating sustainability into the fabric of our university at all levels - operations, curriculum, student life, research, interactions with and connections to community members, neighbors, peers and policy makers. This requires a coordinated effort that requires assessing all these aspects of our institution and its life.

This has been challenging but enlightening. The President's Climate Commitment has given us the opportunity and structure to assess these many manifestations of our commitment for their effectiveness and impact, and provide incentive to improve them.

Chatham has undergone dramatic growth since we signed the agreement in 2007. We have demonstrated our commitment to sustainability by creating a new School of Sustainability and the Environment at Eden Hall Campus. The new campus will feature innovative climate positive buildings and landscape design, eventually serving nearly 1,500 students in a climate and water resources neutral, zero net energy integrated facility. State of the art integrated energy and water technology, and restorative stormwater management all work together to create a unique learning environment linked closely to the land.

This truly integrated design exemplifies the School’s systems-based approach to solving environmental concerns, and provides a unique learning opportunity.
Eden Hall Campus will serve as living laboratory where each student’s experience will be applied and immersive, with a solid foundation in the academic sustainability literature, and provide innovative, interdisciplinary education and research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and professional students to better prepare them to identify and solve challenges related to sustainability and the environment.

Our dedication to sustainability is visible across all our campuses, and the positive effects are noticeable. From the large solar hot water systems on the Woodland campus residence halls and efficiency upgrades in the Eastside offices, to the remaking of our General Education curriculum to require 2 sustainability courses of every undergraduate, to the voluntary active engagement of faculty on Chatham's Climate Committee, our commitment takes many forms.

Never forgetting that one of the ultimate goals of the ACUPCC is to provide leadership through real action, we have made mighty efforts to reduce our footprint. We have had a 45% increase in our student body since signing, and increased our building space 36%. Yet between 2008 and 2010 we reduced our combined Scopes 1+2 emissions by 10%, and our combined Scopes 1+2+3 dropped 7%, for a net emissions reduction of 9%. We now purchase RECS equivalent to 100% of our electricity consumption, but continue our efforts to reduce our real consumption as far as possible. Our goal is to meet the challenge of producing more green energy than we can use, thus becoming a source of sustainable power even while we are a source for sustainable education.

Climate Neutrality Target Date:	2025

Interim Milestone Emission-Reduction Target	Target Date	Baseline*
10% reduction in Total Scopes 1, 2, 3 Emissions	by 2015	relative to baseline emissions in 2007
20% reduction in Total Scopes 1, 2, 3 Emissions	by 2020	relative to baseline emissions in 2007
10% reduction in Purchased Electricity Emissions	by 2015	relative to baseline emissions in 2007

[click to view Climate Action Plan - Climate Action Plan 2009 - Chatham University]

GHGs summary

GHGs for Chatham University

Reporting Year	Gross Emissions	Net Emissions	Full Time Enrollments	Total Bldg. Sq. Ft.	[action]
2007	8705.0	7246.0	1213.0	723000.0	[ view ]
2008	18116.0	16141.0	1615.0	943000.0	[ view ]
2009	15221.8	12338.5	1676.0	984000.0	[ view ]
2010	16827.0	14665.0	1766.0	984000.0	[ view ]
2011	11931.0	5006.0	1479.0	984000.0	[ view ]

• Change in GHG gross emissions
  

  8122.0

  Chatham has undergone dramatic growth in this reporting period, with the most dramatic changes between 2007 and 2008. With the opening of the School of Sustainability and the Environment, a 45% increase in our student body, and a 36% increase in total square footage through the addition of two new campuses, Chatham now considers 2008 data to be more indicative of our true baseline. Between 2008 and 2010, our combined Scopes 1+2 emissions dropped 10%, and our combined Scopes 1+2+3 dropped 7%, for a net emissions reduction of 9%. The Eastside campus was added in 2008.  This large single building added 30% to our total square footage. Built in 1953 as a warehouse, it poses some unique structural and energy challenges.   In addition to  300 Chatham students and faculty, it houses 2 tenants, one with an extensive data center. Our tenants bring over 700 employees into the building daily, none of whom appear in our IPEDS FTE calculations, but all of whom use the energy services of the building. We are pleased to note that our 2010 data reflects improved commuter data, as we have improved our vehicle registration system to capture all car commuting, including summer camp attendees and night students. We now have confidence that we are providing highly-accurate mileage for all automobile commuting.



• Change in GHG emissions per 1000 sq.ft. building space
  

  5.06049910603

  Chatham made a 36% increase in square footage from 2007-2010.


• Change in GHG emissions per full time enrollment (FTE)
  

  2.3518904768

  Full-time enrollment increased 45% from 2007 to 2010.

Curriculum

---

Co-Curriculum

---

Research

---

Community Engagement

---

Energy Efficiency Projects

---

• Number of Energy Efficiency Retrofit Projects planned, but not yet implemented:

  6



• Number of Energy Efficiency Retrofit Projects completed since signing the ACUPCC:

  4



• Number of buildings that have received a green building certification since signing the ACUPCC:

  1



• Number of green buildings planned or scheduled for completion in the next 2 years:

  5



• For all buildings, the green building certification/rating used is:

  Other

Renewable Energy

---

• Annual output (in kWhs) for each renewable energy system utilized by Chatham University

  • Solar output: 90 kWh
  
  
  • Wind output: 0 kWh
  
  
  • Biomass output: 0 kWh
  
  
  • Fuel Cell output: 0 kWh
  
  
  • Geothermal output: 0 kWh
  
  
  • Annual renewable energy purchased: 2100000 kWh
  
  

• Other GHG mitigation efforts:
  In addition to energy efficiency projects, Chatham's Climate Action Plan identified alternative transportation support as an additional approach to carbon reduction. A Bike Support subcommittee of the Climate Committee was formed by volunteers who work to encourage and improve bicycle culture on campus. Chatham’s bicycle infrastructure has grown significantly as a result of this group's efforts, earning us Bronze Bike-Friendly University status from The League of American Cyclists in 2011. Chatham was one of the first institutions in the country to adopt the federal Bicycle Commuting Tax Credit, through the hard work of our Human Resources office. In 2010 we established Chatham Bike Works, an educational bike shop on campus, supported by a student employee of the Office of Sustainability who performs and teaches bike repair. While these efforts cannot be directly quantified with pounds of carbon reduced, we believe that they are crucial to our ultimate goal of zero emissions.
  
  

Financial Data

savings...

---

• Has your Climate Action Plan and/or related sustainability efforts saved your institution money so far, e.g. by reducing operational expenses?

  yes



• Amount spent on CAP projects:

  $250-499k



• Estimated amount saved to date from implementing your CAP projects:

  $50-99k



• Estimated total savings expected from implementing entire Climate Action Plan

  $250-499k



• Additional information or context to support expected savings:

  see calculations in Climate Action Plan.
  
  

funding....

---

• Financial resources (dollar amount) secured from outside sources to support mitigation efforts related to the Climate Action Plan (grants, gifts, etc...) :

  260751



• Additional information on secured outside funding:

  Grants from combined state/federal renewable energy and energy conservation funds, and utility rebate programs.

finance methods...

---

• Financing Methods utilized for Mitigation or Renewable Energy Projects:
  • Other
    combined state/local grant funding

This data is available to ACUPCC signatories with reporting system access.