Oberlin College
IN-1: Innovation 1

The Office of Environmental Sustainability and Office of Finance collaborated in a unique undertaking that lead to the creation of an internship between the two offices. When evaluating the cost of various campus projects, staff realized that there were some inconsistencies and subsequent opportunities to better meld financial goals with sustainability ones. This realization resulted in the creation of an exciting internship - the Energy Conservation Finance Metrics Intern. The intern began with analyzing campus projects and developing a cost of carbon. This cost of carbon could then set the stage for future project assessment and prioritization. This followed with a lifecycle analysis assessment and then an fleet management assessment. Not only are these projects fairly unique in their own right, but to be conducted by an economics student in consultation with two administrative departments is rare. The findings were incredibly valuable for campus as well as for the student who applied their learning to real world scenarios while gaining better understanding of how the institution functions.

This work evolved into exploration for a cost of carbon for campus projects and presentations to senior administrators. This engaged senior administration in a novel way. This work evolved into the intern conducting lifecycle analysis. Further the intern analyzed opportunities with fleet management.