Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 63.29
Liaison Samuel Crowl
Submission Date Feb. 20, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Ohio University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Vince Weatherstein
Director of Energy Management
Facilities Management & Safety
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability? :
Yes

Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Yes

1st Campaign 

Name of the campaign:
Recyclemania

A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged:
In 2001, the recycling coordinators at Ohio University and Miami University started a friendly competition to see who could recycle more. Since then, the competition has grown to include colleges and universities not only in the United States, but Canada as well. The competition takes place in the spring and is 8-weeks long. The purpose of Recyclemania is to motivate students and staff to reduce waste generation and increase recycling efforts. The University continues to be heavily involved in this competition annually, with campus-wide outreach efforts present throughout the Spring semester. Recycling data from previous years proves that this outreach campaign is successful.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
In 2013, Ohio University ranked 109th out of 273 participating colleges and universities by recycling 31.3%* of waste. One year later, Ohio University moved up to 58th place out of 256 participating institutions by diverting 38.7%* of waste. Most recently, in 2017, Ohio University ranked 38th out of 190 participating schools with a 52.9%* recycling rate. The incremental improvements to the University's ranking over time proves a measured positive impact. *These percentages were obtained from "Past Results" on the Recyclemanina website

The website URL where information about the campaign is available:

If reporting a second campaign provide:

2nd Campaign

Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
University Closure Marketing Campaign

A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged (2nd campaign):
The Compass is an official online news source intended to inform university students, faculty, and staff about important university news. All university employees have been notified by the President of the University that they are expected to regularly read the Compass in an effort to stay informed of news deemed important by university leadership. Prior to the 2016 winter break, the Compass published an article regarding winter break energy saving tips. University employees were reminded of the importance of energy conservation and were supplied with best practices for energy conservation methods to practice in a university office.

A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
The Office of Sustainability at Ohio University utilizes the online Lucid Energy Dashboard application and the Power Management Expert program to track energy usage in real time. These tools are utilized when comparing historical energy consumption rates. They have been utilized by the Office of Sustainability to track the success of University Closure marketing campaigns.

The website URL where information about the campaign is available (2nd campaign):

Optional Fields 

A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns, including measured positive impacts:
The University also participated in the ENERGY STAR® National Building Competition in the Fall of 2016. Battle of the Buildings was a competition that challenged building owners, managers, and occupants to reduce energy and water use, and save money. The 2016 competition utilized data from Carr, Sowle, Luchs, and Tanaka (South Green residence halls). All 4 residence halls showed a reduction in heating energy use over the same period in 2015 (1.1-3.0% reductions), and three of the 4 residence halls showed a 3.8-7.2% electricity use reduction as well. The Sustainable Living Coordinator from the Office of Sustainability provided educational and event programming related to energy and water conservation for the residence halls before, during, and after the building competition.

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Updated University Closure Marketing campaign information provided by Sarah Lack, Communications Specialist II, University Communications & Marketing on 12/20/17. Updated Optional Field information provided by Elaine Goetz, Sustainability Specialist, Office of Sustainability on 12/20/17.

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.