Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 71.29
Liaison Holly Andersen
Submission Date March 30, 2022

STARS v2.2

Bennington College
EN-7: Employee Educators Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.78 / 3.00 Holly Andersen
Project Manager
Planning Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of employees:
361

Total number of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
68

Percentage of employees served by a peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education program:
18.84

Name of the employee educators program (1st program):
Continuous Energy Improvement

A brief description of the employee educators program (1st program):

Bennington College has been engaged with a continuous Kaizen process--evaluating not just the buildings energy efficiency, but how the occupants of the building are using the building. This process combines low or no-cost improvements and behavior changes in the occupants. Employee engagement to foster best practices in saving energy include education around vampire loads, turning machines and equipment off when it is not in use and keeping doors and windows closed to let HVAC systems work as designed. Outreach of CEI is through signage throughout campus-- for example, take the stairs instead of the elevator to reduce khw use. Information is also distributes through the weekly college newsletter and energy competitions.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (1st program):

The target audience on campus includes everyone. Everyone and any one who uses campus square footage to teach or to work. All employees use energy on campus and informing them about their energy use and how to conserve energy is a constant educational opportunity.


Number of trained employee educators (1st program):
27

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (1st program):
52

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (1st program):
35

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (1st program):
7,000

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (1st program) :
Name of the employee educators program (2nd program):
Staff and Faculty Brown Bag Luncheon

A brief description of the employee educators program (2nd program):

The campus architect and the planning office project manager offered each term to host a bring your own lunch training session for staff and faculty. During the noon lunch hour they would present energy efficient practices at home and at work. Topic of focus included lighting selection and purchasing, sourcing green building and renovation materials, new technologies like smart thermostats and occupancy sensors. Food procurement, preparation, and selection has also been highlighted in recent years.


A brief description of the employee educators program’s target audience (2nd program):

First, the goal of these brown bag sessions have been to bring an awareness of sustainably at home and on campus. Then to educate staff and faculty on how to implement sustainable practices and provide them with information and resources to help guide their decision making processes. We also include, when possible, sustainability educational information and opportunities in our weekly email to the entire community.


Number of trained employee educators (2nd program):
48

Number of weeks the employee educators program is active annually (2nd program):
10

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (2nd program):
35

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (2nd program):
5,868

Website URL where information about the employee educators program is available (2nd program):
A brief description of all other employee peer-to-peer sustainability outreach and education programs:

The buildings and grounds staff that manage HVAC, electrical, and plumbing scopes of work consistently on on-line trainings offered by Efficiency Vermont and other sustainability organizations. We also take advantage of the Energy Star Trainings through the EPA.


Number of trained employee educators (all other programs):
9

Number of weeks, on average, the employee educators programs are active annually (all other programs):
52

Average or expected number of hours worked weekly per trained employee educator (all other programs):
35

Total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all other programs):
4,350

Grand total number of hours worked annually by trained employee educators (all programs):
17,218

Hours worked annually by trained employee sustainability educators per employee served by a peer-to-peer program:
47.70

Website URL where information about the employee sustainability educators programs is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

The website is a work in progress. One of the reasons that we are completing this reporting is that we are doing really great things in the sustainability realm. We have just not been very good at communicating what we have done.


The website is a work in progress. One of the reasons that we are completing this reporting is that we are doing really great things in the sustainability realm. We have just not been very good at communicating what we have done.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.