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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE ROUNDTABLE II

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE ROUNDTABLE II. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008 FORD COMMONS, DANA BUILDING. MERRY WALKER, TEAM COORDINATOR AARON JAMES, FINANCE & OUTREACH COORDINATOR DANA ARNOLD, PROJECT MANAGER ZAKIYAH SAYYED, PROJECT MANAGER. Overview.

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE ROUNDTABLE II

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  1. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE ROUNDTABLE II WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2008 FORD COMMONS, DANA BUILDING MERRY WALKER, TEAM COORDINATOR AARON JAMES, FINANCE & OUTREACH COORDINATOR DANA ARNOLD, PROJECT MANAGER ZAKIYAH SAYYED, PROJECT MANAGER

  2. Overview • Brief Introductions • Presentations/Discussion • Emerging Green Builders, Laura Palombi • Buildings, Aaron James • Resources, Merry Walker • Outreach/Education, Matthew Miller • Socially Responsible Investment, Arthur Peterson • Systematic Change, Niels Zellers • Voting Block (vote on top 2-3) • Committees • Choose committee chair • 3 Action items by Roundtable III

  3. Emerging Green Builders Laura Palombi lpalombi@umich.edu

  4. Emerging Green Builders Emerging Green Builders are students and young professionals dedicated to becoming and recruiting the future leaders of the green building movement. Laura Palombi and Nathan Niece are starting a UM chapter and are recruiting members! Join us for a kick off event on January 14th at 5:00 to learn about EGB and enjoy a tour of the new Ross Business School building. (Space is limited. Please RSVP to lpalombi@umich.edu)

  5. U-M Buildings Aaron James Jamesae@umich.edu

  6. UM Buildings Biggest Environmental Footprint on Campus • 98% of campus energy use and carbon emissions • 99% of campus water use • Operations drive waste disposal / recycling behavior Economically Feasible • Cost savings from systems integration • Life cycle costs • 50 year building lifespan • Great case to be made for paybacks within 10 years Potential for Centralization / Uniform Standards • All new buildings and major renovations already go through Hank Baier’s office

  7. Potential Milestones • Expand Planet Blue teams beyond general fund units to include: • Housing (Residence Halls) • Health System (Hospital) • Athletics (All of South Campus) • University Unions (Union, League, Pierpont) • Research Facilities • Set standard for all new construction and major renovation: LEED / other • Reduce campus energy and water use by 50% per square foot • Reduce campus energy and water use by 50% • Carbon Neutral Campus • Building energy efficiency • “Wind from the thumb” on DTE Grid • Alternative Fuels for Central Power Plant

  8. LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Pros • LEED is the only nationally recognized standard for green buildings • LEED is used by other universities, a benchmark for comparison • Buildings built and renovated on UM campus are already half-way to LEED certified by their location and standards Cons • Imperfect system, widely critiqued • Certification itself costs money • Existing resistance from administrators Conclusion: If we can create a way to achieve and communicate sustainable building design and construction without LEED, I would be all for it. If not, LEED is the only game in town.

  9. Resources Merry Walker Merrymw@umich.edu

  10. Resources • 2007 Sustainability Report • 114 Indicators, 74 “trended in a positive direction” • Recycling increased by 28% • Campus population increased by 861 people/year • “the University of Michigan is deeply committed to our responsibilities as stewards of our environment and resources…with proper planning and innovative leadership, our University can ensure a responsible research and educational program” • Still no targets!

  11. ResourcesEnergy • Central Power Plant (CPP) • Cogeneration process (natural gas produces steam to generate elec) • Used mainly for heating/cooling • 45-47% campus energy use from CPP • Buildings • Building area increased by 5.9k ft2/year (8.3%) • 8% increase in building energy use/year

  12. ResourcesEnergy/ Emissions • Total normalized energy use to population and footage has decreased overall since 2004 • In FY 2007, U-M purchased 437.586 MWh of elec from DTE (23.6% in 2007, up from 17.6% in 2004) • CPP participates in EPA NOx Trading Program ($300k/4 years) • Because of DTE, overall CO2 emissions has not decreased significantly • U-M Biological Station absorbs 65k tons CO2/year

  13. ResourcesWater • In 2007, U-M operations used 1.3 bill gallons of H2O (1% increase from 2006, 3% increase from 2004) • Normalized, water use decreased 4% • Campus population water use same over last 3 years (17.9k gall/person) • 98% H2O from Huron River via City of Ann Arbor (25% of total AA) • Hatcher Chiller Plant saves 2.6 mill gall H2O/year and 650k gall/year in sanitary discharge • In 1995, sampled sanitary discharges from buildings to analyze chemical output and has program to replace the problematic materials

  14. ResourcesLand Use/ Waste • Area/person increased from 389 to 403 ft2/pers in last 4 years • Building area increased by 8%, usage efficiency decreased by 3% • Because of “addition of more modern buildings with large public spaces and dedicated laboratory space” • “Modern architecture is more…desirable for enhanced quality of life” • 2.5k campus acres are considered pervious (allows storm water to pass) • Waste Management Services (WMS) manages collection/recycling non-hazardous wastes • U-M Health System (UMHS) manages all hospital wastes • Dept of Occupational Safety and Environ Health (OSEH) manages all hazardous waste • Hospital replaced incinerator with steam sterilization system in 1999 • 16k tons of waste in 2007 (up from 13.2)

  15. ResourcesRandom • Housing recycling decreased waste by 52% • Health System • Electronics, computers, bulbs, cell phones, cell phones collected to recycle or resale • Pathology distills to recycle solvents • Silver recovered by x-ray development • Hospital is mercury free

  16. ResourcesGoals/ Action Items • Short-term-Conveying the benefits • Provide study of monetary benefits of resource use reduction • Present to operations/administration for by-in • Long-term-Reduce reduce reduce • Establish renewable energy projects (in addition to Dana) • 10% renewable energy by December 2009 • 25% renewable energy by December 2010 (will replace need for DTE) • 50% renewable energy by December 2012 • Decrease overall CO2 emissions • This can be done by offsets/renewable energy/invest renewable energy projects for Ann Arbor, Detroit • 10% decrease by 2009, 25% decrease by 2010, 50% decrease by 2012, ZERO NET EMISSIONS by 2015 • Waste management • Decrease overall waste (through intensive recycling program) • 25% reduction by 2010, 40% reduction by 2015

  17. Outreach/Education Matthew Miller Memmich@umich.edu

  18. Socially Responsible Investing at the University of Michigan:Aligning actions with values

  19. Socially Responsible Investing is… • Investing practices that are aligned with the values of the University. • Exercising shareholder voting rights on issues that matter to the University and its constituents. • Investing with transparency, and with input from direct university stakeholders.

  20. UM Endowment FY 2007 – $7.1 Billion Ninth largest U.S. university endowment Third largest public university endowment Divestment – Tobacco and South Africa Asset Allocation FY 2007 Stocks – 32.8% Bonds – 9.7% Alternative Assets (e.g. venture capital, private equity, real estate, and energy investments) – 35.1% Absolute Return – 20.8% Cash – 1.6%

  21. Investing at Michigan: How It’s Done • Investment responsibilities with the Chief Investment Officer. He outsources the investing activities to management companies but sets the policies. • Proxy voting is done by the investment management company, with guidelines set by the Board of Regents. Currently, they abstain from voting on any political or social issues. • Divestment has only been practiced with South Africa and Tobacco companies. • Investments and proxy votes are not transparent

  22. What We Want to do 1. Develop proxy voting guidelines for social and political proxies 2. Publish proxy voting guidelines and records online along with company holdings. 3. Create Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility Made up of graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, and staff. Committee would review investment priorities and make political and social proxy voting and investing recommendations to the committee. 4. Divestment on a case by case basis

  23. We Need SSI’s Support We need SSI’s support on SRI as a priority issue because we need broad student-level support to raise the administration’s awareness of the issue. This is something that SSI can endorse and stay hands-off (unless you want to help!).

  24. Conceiving Sustainability at the University of Michigan Making Sustainability Systemic and Persistent December 3rd, 2008

  25. What do we want for UM Sustainability? Energy Purchase "Green Power" for electricity beyond UM Power Plant Meter Dorms and Hold Energy Saving Competitions Buildings LEED certify all new construction Food Systems Access to local and organic meals in cafeterias A campus farm that would reconnect students to the land, and encourage new wave farmers Waste Biodigester to reduce food waste through conversion to biogas and compost  SRI Student/Faculty Advisory Board which align university's investments with its values

  26. Projects vs. VehiclesWhat is the charge and role for SSI? Sustainability achieved through Student Group Ideas/Projects Ideas need proper love and care to grow. Administration IDEA! IDEA $ U of M 1.) Collaboration. 2.) Administrative Support 3.) Financing

  27. Why Institutional Sustainability?The Need Continuity: Students come and go. We need a constant voice for Sustainability Steady Funding: There is a need for funding to facilitate future sustainability projects. Prominence: UM needs a voice for sustainability at the highest levels. Better Coordination: Many groups working on same issues instead of combining forces.  Leadership/Competitiveness: As environmentalists we want to see our University lead on this issue. As student's we need our university to compete in this emerging market.

  28. Vehicles towards Institutionalizing Sustainability Michigan Environmental Challenge (Funding/Leadership) Annual Competition where student groups would submit plans to green the University that would produce both environmental and economic benefits to the institution. Funded by Revolving Green Fund. Permanent Sustainability Chair in the Provost’s office (Continuity/Prominence) Address operating – capital budget issues, run the Michigan Environmental Challenge. Revolving Green Fund (Financing) Green Fund to sponsor and support Campus Greening Projects. University, Donor, and/or student generated. Academic Component (Leadership/Competitiveness) UM focused Sustainability Course/Consideration of general Sustainability Class. SSI Students for Sustainability Website (Coordination) Facilitate collaboration between UM's Environmental Organizations.

  29. Final Thoughts Promise of SSI: We see SSI as best positioned to: i.) facilitate coordination amongst campus environmental groups ii.) create University-wide vehicles that institutionalize sustainability at the University of Michigan. Next Steps: Voting on the Projects tonight and then working together to ensure new institutional vehicles are in place for the coming school year. 

  30. Overview • Brief Introductions • Presentations/Discussion • Emerging Green Builders, Laura Palombi • Buildings, Aaron James • Resources, Merry Walker • Outreach/Education, Matthew Miller • Socially Responsible Investment, Arthur Peterson • Systematic Change, Niels Zellers • Voting Block (vote on top 2-3) • Committees • Choose committee chair • 3 Action items by Roundtable III

  31. Overview • Brief Introductions • Presentations/Discussion • Emerging Green Builders, Laura Palombi • Buildings, Aaron James • Resources, Merry Walker • Outreach/Education, Matthew Miller • Socially Responsible Investment, Arthur Peterson • Systematic Change, Niels Zellers • Voting Block (vote on top 2-3) • Committees • Choose committee chair • 3 Action items by Roundtable III

  32. Committees • Committees for each agreed-upon priority (1-2 chairs, Things they need from SSI (admin contacts, etc.), 2-3 action items for RT3) • Committee Chair Responsibilities • Meet with SSI staff once every two weeks • Convene committee every two weeks • Organize work streams, subcommittees, appoint tasks • Report to roundtable (succinctly) with updates on committee work • Committee Responsibilities • Setting specific goals and timelines for Winter 2009 • Monthly report of research, progress, activities, milestones • Suggestions • Research • Proposal Writing

  33. Thank you! Next meeting: Wednesday January 14 from 6:00-7:30 pm HERE

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