Reinvesting in Higher Education: Making the Case for Campus Sustainability

Stemming the Costs

Existing buildings outnumber new construction by more than 100 to one, and as owners, institutions are responsible for maintaining 50 to 100 years of a building's life, or longer. That's a long‐term investment, so it's no wonder many institutions have pursued LEED certification to help curb energy and resource consumption in their building stock. University/college‐owned buildings rank third, behind office and retail, for LEED certified space‐types, and the higher education sector is also the third‐largest owner of certified properties, behind corporate and investor owners.

Much of this progress through LEED certification, though, has been so far concentrated on new buildings. There are numerous examples of sustainability frameworks for new construction projects across campuses, according to a 2016 Sightlines report. ² It has become standard to integrate sustainability from the outset in planning and budgeting projects, not just in the design phase, but also within contracts and product specification. However, while many institutions realize that short‐term investment in new green buildings can be offset by reduced maintenance, increased market value, and reputational improvements, the same attention has not been granted to capital reinvestment projects.

Campus sustainability cannot be fully implemented without embracing the existing building stock. There are some encouraging trends that suggest institutions know this to be true. A McGraw Hill study ³ found that 80 percent of higher education institutions have conducted at least some green retrofits and operational improvements in the United States. Worldwide, there are currently 442 higher education projects participating in LEED for Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M).

Reducing operational costs is an obvious first line of defense. But utility costs for water and electricity are rising, and these increases are being passed on to schools, and ultimately, their stakeholders. While many institutions successfully cut down fossil fuel use and turn to renewable energy and other means to offset carbon emissions, they still pay a high price just to keep their campuses running. A small college spends about $4.2 million annually on utilities; that number grows to $11 million for midsize schools, and more than $22 million for larger universities, according to Sightlines. ⁴

Going beyond the low‐hanging fruit (e.g., replacing incandescent lamps with LEDs), requires a concerted and thorough dive ⁵ into how campus buildings perform across all metrics, including water, energy, waste, and human health. Creating robust campus policies that target existing buildings encourages a culture within higher education in which green practices are implemented and standardized, thereby ensuring the functionality of buildings for the rest of their lifecycles.

American University ⁶ in Washington, DC, has committed to carbon neutrality by 2020, and is one such campus working to ensure that all of its buildings operate efficiently. While the university has a goal of using LEED throughout campus, its certification for Gray Hall under LEED O+M resulted in a number of policies that have been applied campus‐wide, including green purchasing and cleaning policies, and a zero waste policy. (See a film clip from USGBC at https://youtu.be/aeXSGTSGlhM for more on the certification of Gray Hall.)

Another example: the University of California's expansive capital reinvestment and operations policies require major renovations to follow regulations similar to those for new construction projects, and it encourages LEED O+M certification for applicable spaces.

What Students Want

If institutions can get a better handle on operational spending by renovating buildings to sustainable standards, the savings could be passed on to students. Unsurprisingly, the cost of attendance is one of the top three factors that influence a prospective student's decision in choosing a school. While many institutions rely on grants and other forms of revenue, tuition still remains the primary source of income, and with dropping enrollment rates there is increased competition.

Other than cost, the school's reputation and the campus visit play a key role in decision making. Buildings are the most visible representation of the health of a school. How they look and function reflect a capacity to maintain facilities, and building and operating to LEED standards allows an institution to demonstrate its commitment to the health and success of the campus population, as well as to the environment. Beyond the monetary savings associated with high‐performing, efficient buildings, there is an element of user satisfaction that is directly tied to how good people feel in a space.

But we know that buildings are only part of the equation. Academics and career preparation are equally important to delivering a holistic approach to sustainability, and these two factors top the list ⁴ of students' priorities when selecting a college. Students are showing more interest and sophistication about environmental issues, ⁷ and this interest is growing faster than programmatic offerings. We also know that increasingly, young professionals seek career growth opportunities, ⁸ want their skillsets to be fully utilized on the job, ⁹ and prefer to work for employers who are committed to a cause. ¹⁰ In addition, they feel they can make a difference in improving the overall sustainability of their companies: 82 percent look for ways to help improve their company's efforts and 67 percent feel that they have enough influence to make changes, according to a recent study conducted by Lightspeed. ¹¹

What students want out of their education and how they plan to apply it seem to be at odds with what is actually being provided. If we are going to prepare students for graduation and help them achieve the competencies and skills they need to be successful, we need to change the current state of higher education.

Preparing Students for 21st Century Success

Regardless of their major, students should understand the relationships between natural, social, and economic systems, so that after graduation, they can make choices that positively affect both people and planet. At USGBC, we believe that buildings can bridge the gap between the cost of running a campus and delivering on the core mission of educational excellence. One example that is seeing great success is LEED Lab, ¹² a project‐based learning course offered by USGBC in partnership with post‐secondary institutions. The course addresses the critical improvements needed on both the physical and academic level, making it is easier for institutions to deliver holistic education, real‐world experience, and quality spaces to learn, work, and live.

Through the LEED Lab course, students learn the principles of LEED standards and receive project experience by assessing the performance of campus buildings, facilitating the complete LEED O+M process with the goal of achieving certification. Currently, there are 27 academic institutions ¹³ worldwide, private and public, using LEED Lab to integrate sustainability practices into campus operations and to deliver tangible results in operational cost savings, experiential learning, and preparation for sustainable jobs and professional credentialing.

Harnessing Technology to Improve Building Performance

The Sustainability and Reporting 2025 project from The Global Reporting Institute ¹⁴ projects that the future of sustainability data will be digital. With an eye toward greater market efficiency and transparency, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), which administers LEED certification, launched Arc, ¹⁵ a digital platform that uses real‐time data to measure and improve building sustainability by tracking progress through a performance score. Now every building that registers for LEED O+M, including LEED Lab projects, can pursue certification through the traditional credit‐based pathway through LEED Online or through the performance score provided by Arc.

When you consider that capital planning budgets are often separate from ongoing operations and maintenance budgets, it becomes increasingly clear that project teams need to consider how their buildings live, from construction to demolition.

The green building industry should recognize higher education as a key driver of market transformation, and institutions should embrace their role by preparing students to lead 21st century careers by using the campus built environment as a laboratory for learning. For the sake of the bottom line and academic mission, higher education leaders should start by taking a hard look at their infrastructure.