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TEMPLE UNIVERSITYANNUAL REPORT ON SUSTAINABILITY

2013 - 2014sustainability.temple.edu

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Table of Contents

Introduction 3Greenhouse Gas Emissions 4Buildings & Energy 5Transportation 6Waste Minimization & Recycling 7-8 Behavior Change 9Sustainability in the Curriculum 10Research & Community Outreach 11-12Honors & Awards 13

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INTRODUCTION

In 2008, Temple University affirmed its commitment to sustainability by sign-ing the American College and Univer-sity Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). In 2010, Temple developed its Climate Action Plan outlining goals for achieving carbon neutrality over time, which included:

1. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2030;2. Integrating sustainability into the curriculum;3. Expanding research and communi-ty outreach in climate change.

Since signing the ACUPCC, Temple has published an Annual Report on Sustain-ability to report its accomplishments in sustainability. This is the fourth annual

report and reflects the status of Temple’s sustainability initiatives as of the end of Fiscal Year 2014. The report is divided into the three categories of the Climate Action Plan: greenhouse gas reduction, curriculum and research, and community outreach.

In FY2014, the first solar array was installed on Temple Universi-ty’s Main Campus, making it the first solar project of its kind at a college or university within the

city of Philadelphia.

[Left to Right] Hooter never leaves the nest without his reusable water bottle; Decorative window film installed at the Tuttleman-Paley walkway connector to mitigate bird-window collisions; The “Caught Green Handed” initiative rewards students for making sustainable choices.

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REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

Temple’s long range Climate Action Plan recommends reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% in 2030, with interim reduction goals of 5% by 2015, 15% by 2020 and 22% by 2025. Greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to stationary sources (fuels that are burned on cam-pus), purchased electricity, transporta-tion, solid waste and other small contrib-utors (refrigerants, fertilizers, purchased steam and transmission and distribution losses).

Temple measures its greenhouse gas emissions annually, with FY 2006 as the base year from which the univer-sity will reduce its emissions. Between FY 2006 and FY 2013, greenhouse gas gross emissions have decreased by 12% from 226,219 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E) to 200,113 MT-CO2E. This decrease occurred while the

gross square footage (GSF) increased by 13% or 1,054,616 GSF and the stu-dent full-time equivalent (FTE) has in-creased by 18% or 4,756 FTE students. This reduction surpasses the 2015 goal established in the Climate Action Plan. The FY 2013 greenhouse gas inventory showed that the majority of Temple’s greenhouse gas emissions were derived from buildings (stationary sources and electricity). Building emissions increased slightly from FY 2012 to FY 2013 and implementing energy conservation mea-sures and improving building energy ef-ficiency continues to be a critical step in reaching the university’s reduction goals for greenhouse gas emissions. Other greenhouse gas reduction goals include transportation, waste minimization and recycling and behavior change initia-tives.

Stationary Sources

28%

Other6%

Electricity46%

Solid Waste3%

Transportation17%

GHG Emissions by Source, FY 2013

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The majority of Temple’s greenhouse gas emissions (78%) comes from building opera-tions. Initiatives undertaken in FY 2014 to reduce emissions from Temple’s buildings include the following:

• Completion of the Utility Master Plan, which identifies energy conservation strategies and large scale efficiency proj-ects;

• Installation of a 4,500 SF, 63-kilowatt so-lar array on the south-facing roof of Tem-ple’s Edberg-Olson Hall;

• LEED Certification of the Medical Edu-cation and Research Building 8th and 9th floor interior;

• Purchase of green power which reduced Temple’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by over 8,000 MTECO2;

• Installation of decorative window film at the Tuttleman-Paley connector skywalk to mitigate bird-window collisions;

• Installation of new windows for increased energy performance at Anderson Hall, Gladfelter Hall and Engineering;

• Implementation of Energy Cap which tracks campus energy usage; and,

• Extension of natural gas services to the Ambler Campus, which previously relied solely on fuel oil for heat.

BUILDINGS & ENERGY

[Top] The solar array installed on Edberg-Olson Hall. The system is owned and operated by Community Energy Inc. [Bottom] The Medical Education and Research Building, located on the Health Sciences Campus, is Temple’s first LEED Certified project.

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Approximately one-fifth of Temple’s green-house gas emissions comes from trans-portation. FY 2014 initiatives aimed at de-creasing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation include:

• Promotion of Bike Temple events which included Urban Riding Basics classes that promote safe biking in an urban en-vironment, Fix-a-Flat courses that are de-signed to teach the basics of bike repair, group riding events aimed at promoting a fun social environment in which rid-ers feel comfortable to ride with others, speaker events including Women Bike PHL, hosting of the Philly Phlyer Cam-pus Criterium, and participation in the Greater Philadelphia Bicycling Coali-tion summer commuter challenge where Temple ranked #1 in the Philadelphia Re-gion and #20 in the Nation;

• Launch of the new Bike Temple website;• The addition of an electric vehicle to the

Facilities fleet;• Continued partnership with SEPTA to

offer the University Pass to full-time stu-dents;

• Continued marketing of the Wage Works program which permits full time em-ployees to purchase public transit with pre-tax dollars; and,

• Continued partnership with car share programs, such as ZipCar and Enterprise Car Share.

TRANSPORTATION

[Top] Fix-a-Flat courses, offered by Bike Temple throughout the year, are aimed at teaching the basics of bike repair; [Bottom] The new electric vehicle that was added to the campus fleet.

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carts around campus to provide discard-ed office supplies to students, faculty and staff;

• Hosting of a clothing swap in which stu-dents, faculty and staff brought in un-wanted clothing. Items were donated to the Philly AIDS Thrift store; and,

• Continuation of programs such as the Give + Go Green initiative in the resi-dence halls, the Music Swap Table through the Boyer College of Music, and donation of surplus furniture and equip-ment to charitable organizations.

Though only a small amount of Tem-ple’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from solid waste, the university is com-mitted to minimizing waste to foster a more sustainable campus culture. FY 2014 waste minimization activities included:

• Hosting of zero-waste events, such as the Tri-State Sustainability Symposium, Waste Management conference and the Temple-Rutgers men’s basketball game;

• Installation of three additional water bot-tle refilling stations to reduce the number of single use bottles. Since the program’s inception in FY 2011, Temple has avoided sending over 4 million single use bottles to the landfill;

• Composting at the Liacouras Center, in-cluding preconsumer waste, in suites and at catered events;

• Introduction of Temple Office Supply Swap (TOSS), which hosts pop-up swap

WASTE MINIMIZATION

[Left to Right] Class project to promote waste minimization by offering a reusable water bottle in exchange for a single use bottle; A happy customer taking advantage of the free school supplies offered at the Temple Office Supply Swap (TOSS) pop-up table.

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Temple University had a recycling rate of 36% in FY 2013 and is closing in on its goal of increasing the university’s recy-cling rate to 40% by 2015. Recycling initia-tives in FY 2014 included the following:

• Expansion of Temple’s recycling pro-gram to include mixed plastics #1-7;

• Partnered with SEPTA to install recy-cling containers at the Temple University Regional Rail platform;

• Continued participation in RecycleMa-nia with first time entries in the Electron-ics Special Category and Game Day Or-ganics Challenge;

• Continued recycling of construction waste materials, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over 1,200 MTECO2 in FY2014; and,

• Continuation of the recycling program for used computers and electronics.

RECYCLING

[Top] Creative dumpsters used for recycling of construction debris at SERC; [Bottom] Temple expanded its recycling with the addition of mixed plastics #1-7.

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Programs implemented in FY 2014 to pro-mote a green culture and environmental lit-eracy included the following initiatives:

• Education campaign geared at educating the Temple Community about the expan-sion of the recycling program to include mixed plastics #1-7;

• Partnered with Campus Safety on an in-tensive theft prevention campaign which helped to reduce bicycle theft on cam-pus. This campaign along with Temple’s bike registration program has helped to reduce bicycle thefts by 50%;

• Continued the Potlucks with a Purpose discussion series, hosted by The Green Council, which provided casual, free

dinners and a platform for discussion about sustainability issues while indulg-ing in homemade food;

• Continued the “Caught Green Handed” initiative which rewards students for making sustainable choices;

• Increased followers on social media, in-cluding Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest; and,

• Sponsorship of Clean Up Temple Day, a service day where student volunteers help clean up Temple’s campus.

BEHAVIOR CHANGE

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INTEGRATE SUSTAINABILITY INTO THE CURRICULUM

An important element in Temple’s Climate Action Plan is to promote broad sustainabil-ity efforts through academic programs that prepare students for leadership in this area. Advances in integrating sustainability into the curriculum during FY 2014 include:

• Offering a total of 182 courses identified as “sustainable”, which span 28 depart-ments;

• Five undergraduate students who re-ceived the Certificate in Sustainability;

• As part of the Sustainability LLC and first year seminar course, students learned about change management and developed leadership skills by identify-ing sustainable alternatives in the 1940 residence halls, advocating for solutions and working with Housing to implement those changes;

• Continued integration of sustainability related service projects into university classes, like the School of Environmental Design’s Green vs. Gray Urban Ecology class that allows students to participate in a community service based project;

• The Department of Geography and Ur-ban Studies offered an independent study course that drew students from across the university to explore the feasibility of developing a café that was cooperatively run by students on campus. Through this independent study, students established the conceptual foundation for the café on

campus, developed a business plan and garnered the support of university ad-ministration for this project;

• Students in the advertising research class held a focus group that evaluated the market reach and perceptions of the Of-fice of Sustainability on campus;

• The Sustainable Marketing course in Fox School of Business developed plans for greening athletics, including actionable items that can be addressed to promote sustainable transportation to games, minimize waste at the student tailgates and utilize the social capital of student athletes to promote a sustainable culture on campus. The class also developed and implemented a marketing plans for Temple’s involvement in RecycleMania, including devising a campaign to orga-nize Temple’s first participation in the electronic waste category of RecycleMa-nia and a water bottle exchange event at the IBC;

• In a Landscape Architecture studio, stu-dents assessed Main Campus and pro-posed plans to incorporate storm water and other green elements into the land-scape.

• Students enrolled in an environmen-tal policy class studied the LEED rating system and made recommendations for how the university could incorporate features of LEED and other green build-ing best practices into a campus wide green building policy; and,

• The Facilities Management Studio as-sessed a closed Philadelphia school site and proposed sustainable alternative uses for repurposing the site. The stu-dents’ designs incorporated green walls, green roofs, solar, storm water manage-ment features and sustainable education components.

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Temple continues to expand its sustainabil-ity research. FY 2014 highlights in the ad-vancement of sustainable research include:

• Funding of undergraduate student sustainability related projects through CARAS (Creative Arts, Research and Scholarship). One project focused on understanding our food systems, and another project documented the entirety of the Susquehanna River through pho-tographs;

• Continuation of Paley’s Library Prize for Undergraduate Research on Sustainabil-ity and the Environment. The winning projects included “How does land-use and climate change affect soil organic carbon stocks and processes in temperate grasslands” by Christine Kim, and “Fun-gal diseases in wildlife: emerging threats from pathogenic fungi” by Shannon Mc-Ginnis; and,

• Grants awarded to Temple’s Center for Sustainable Communities, including: $1.235 million by the William Penn Foun-dation to provide oversight, support, and expertise for restoration projects in five Philadelphia region watersheds, and $1 million by the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate stormwater manage-ment controls and practices in urban en-vironments.

RESEARCH AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

RESEARCH

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The Office of Sustainability continues to ex-pand the breadth of its partnerships to col-laborate on a variety of community outreach efforts aimed at engaging students, faculty, staff and neighbors. Outreach activities in FY 2014 include:

• Represented Temple University at the national Greenbuild Conference in Phil-adelphia with student volunteers who promoted composting awareness;

• Coordinated the “Red Goes Green Phil-lies Game” where Temple students helped to promote recycling by collect-ing recyclables at a Phillies game;

• Hosted Temple’s Inaugural Global Day of Service which is a day where volun-teers worked together to clean neigh-borhood streets, beautify community gardens, and distribute supplies to un-derserved communities;

• Continued coordination and participa-tion in service projects like the Cobbs Creek Clean-up, Little Tinicum Island coastal cleanup, Penrose Playground

cleanup and work day at the Philadel-phia Urban Creators’ Urban Farm, Uber Street Urban Garden work day, and the Penn Treaty Park clean-up;

• Temple University hosted the Tri-State Sustainability Symposium which brings together community leaders, industry leaders, and educational leaders to share ideas and ask tough questions regarding sustainability in the Delaware Valley;

• Hosted Campus Sustainability Week in the fall and spring semesters, which in-cluded a green fair, lectures, demonstra-tions and workshops on sustainability topics in each school or college;

• Hosted EarthFest at Ambler Campus, one of the largest educational celebra-tions of Earth Day, with an attendance of over 7,000 people and over 75 exhibitors; and,

• Provided field trips to many sustainabil-ity related facilities in the Philadelphia region, like the Waste Management com-posting facility, and the MRF Recycling Center.

OUTREACH

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Faculty, students and staff have received na-tional awards on their sustainability efforts. Recognition of the Temple community’s ef-forts on sustainability in FY 2014 include:

• Temple University placed 1st in the Na-tional RecycleMania Game Day Organics Challenge for composting at the men’s Temple vs. Rutgers basketball game;

• Temple University has been named one of the Princeton Review’s 332 most en-vironmentally responsible colleges in the U.S. and Canada in FY 2014;

• Student Award of Excellence from the American society of Landscape Archi-tects awarded to students Diana Fernan-dez and Amy Syverson for their project that reimagined the abandoned Reading Viaduct in Philadelphia; and,

• Presentation at national conferences, in-cluding: Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), American Planning Associa-tion (APA), and the Tri-State Sustainability Symposium.

HONORS & AWARDS

[Top] Temple alums Diana Fernandez and Amy Syverson at the abandoned Reading Viaduct; [Bottom] Temple wins a national award for its composting efforts during RecycleMania.