Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.73
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date Jan. 31, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

American University
PAE-3: Physical Campus Plan

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Chris O'Brien
Director of Sustainability
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution's physical campus plan include sustainability at a high level?:
Yes

A brief description of how the physical campus plan or amendment includes sustainability:

From AU's 2011-2020 Campus Plan
"American University long-standing commitment to preserve our environment was reinforced by a Strategic Plan goal. A Climate Action Plan solidifies this commitment and targets carbon neutrality by 2020 – an ambitious goal that AU embraces. The university will employ four strategies to achieve neutrality: reduce consumption, produce renewable energy, buy green power, and buy/develop offsets for unavoidable emissions. Additionally, the university has :
• Cut its carbon emissions in half by purchasing renewable energy credits for 100% of its electricity, making AU the sixth largest buyer of renewable energy in higher education,
• Adopted a Green Building Policy that mandates that new construction, major renovations, and operations and maintenance conform to LEED Silver standards or better;
• Instituted a Sustainable Purchasing Policy which mandates the creation of sustainable purchasing guidelines for a wide range of products, including emissions-reducing products, such as those rated to ENERGY STAR standards,
• Adopted a Zero Waste Policy, establishing waste reduction and diversion benchmarks, with a long-term goal of achieving zero waste,
• Completed a new School of International Service building which is a LEED Gold candidate,
• Installed four green roofs, with plans for two more in 2011,
• Installed solar hot water and photovoltaic solar panels on one building, with six more planned in 2011, and
• Continued its commitment to reducing vehicle trips to the campus by providing excellent bus service, car share, ride share, and bike share programs, and launched a staff benefit for bicycle commuters."


The year the physical campus plan was developed or adopted:
2,011

The website URL where the physical campus plan is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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