Work Sustainably

We are constantly working to mitigate the environmental impact of our campus. This includes our greenhouse gas emissions, our solid waste generation, the chemicals we use around campus, and the products we purchase.

We’re proud to report that our per capita carbon emissions have declined by 28% since 2001, and our overall emissions by almost 20%, despite adding buildings, building additions, and students.

But, we have high ideals, and we are aspiring to achieve carbon neutrality, which is the reason we signed the ACUPCC, The American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. We want to reduce our carbon emissions by at least 5% per year and eventually come as close to zero emissions as possible. So, we are constantly busy thinking of ways to cut carbon and generally make our campus more sustainable.  

How do we work on these issues?

For decades, we’ve been doing this work informally with motivated students, staff, and faculty as our leaders. A sustainability committee was the primary vehicle for planning and implementing projects. But, in the summer of 2008, we formed an actual sustainability office. To lead the office, we hired a paid, full-time sustainability coordinator, whose only job is to think about our environmental impact and work on ways to mitigate it. We also have 12 smart, passionate work-study students working out of the office, doing everything from data analysis to sorting different grades of recycled paper. These work-study positions are a great way for our students to get practical, hands-on experience in the sustainability field.

To give the sustainability office weight in affecting our daily operations and long-term physical plans as a college, the sustainability coordinator reports directly to the President weekly. The coordinator also serves on our Master Planning Committee and advises the group about how every decision will affect our vision for sustainability.

Over the past year we’ve been focused on consolidating our data collection methods so we can more efficiently and accurately process data on energy use, campus vehicle travel, commuting, recycling, composting, and greenhouse gases. We’ve also been gearing up to write our climate action plan, so we’ve been researching alternative transportation options, and alternative heating systems.

Where we are now…

Our Carbon Report Card
Overall climate emission level is a good proxy measure of our overall ecological impact.

Gross Emissions:
Unity’s annual gross Lbs of carbon emissions: 1,091 metric tons of CO₂e
Each student’s annual gross Lbs of carbon emissions: 2 metric tons of CO₂e per FTE

Net Emissions:
Unity’s annual net Lbs of carbon emissions: 841 metric tons of CO₂e
Each student’s annual net Lbs of carbon emissions: 1.6 metric tons of CO₂e per FTE

Compared to Other Colleges:

“Gross emissions” are the emissions we physically produce as a campus, not accounting for carbon offsets “Net emissions” are the emissions we’re responsible for once we factor in the carbon offsets we’ve purchased from the Maine State Housing Authority “CO2e” means carbon dioxide equivalent. It’s a way of measuring total greenhouse gas emissions in one standard unit, being carbon. Therefore, a CO2e number is the total greenhouse gas emissions if all the different types of gases were converted to their equivalent effect in terms of carbon dioxide. “FTE” means “Full-time equivalent.” It refers to the total number of full-time students at a college, plus all the part-time students added together and counted as a certain number of additional full-time students.

Where exactly do our greenhouse gas emissions come from?

Scope 1 emissions (Includes college-owned vehicle fleet, and stationary combustion, such as heating and agriculture): 742 metric tons of CO₂ e annually

Scope 2 emissions (Includes purchased electricity): 0 metric tons of CO₂e annually

Scope 3 emissions (Includes indirect sources, such as commuting, air travel, and waste emissions): 349 metric tons of CO₂ e annually

Big steps: 

• Built a LEED Platinum House (net zero carbon emissions), complete with solar electricity, solar hot water, and a cold climate heat pump.
• We’ve purchased 100% renewable electricity (made here in Maine) since 2002.
• We hired a full-time Sustainability Coordinator with 12 sustainability work-study students.
• We maintain a small wind turbine on campus that helps supply power to our eco-cottage where our most dedicated sustainability students get to live.

Where we’re focused now:

• Examining alternative heating options, such as wood pellet boilers and more cold climate heat pumps.
• We’re aiming to build to LEED Platinum standards for all our new buildings, including our upcoming 6,000 square-foot lab building.
• Finding ways to drastically reduce our transportation footprint.

Strengths:

We have buy-in from all department heads on campus, and now each of them are required to write a sustainability plan for the operations of their department. We also have an extremely motivated, hands-on student body that wants us to progress and is willing to break a sweat over it.

Weaknesses:

We’re not the richest school in the world. We can’t buy our way out of these problems with tons of carbon offsets or huge, overnight changes to our infrastructure. We practice what we call “frugal sustainability,” which means we make small, well though-out changes that make long-term economic sense. We grab “low-hanging fruit” first, and focus on making our buildings as energy-efficient as possible before we invest in alternative energy systems. This brand of sustainability is a feasible model, one that we use to teach others because in a realistic world, we all have to understand how to maneuver within our economic system.

How do we do so well being a small college with modest financial resources?

Well, we’ve been thinking about sustainability for a long time. Additionally, our programs are driven by students interested in this stuff. They not only help to get the work done, but they keep us efficient and honest by asking hard questions. Students question us about buying carbon offsets, they question us about energy inefficient systems around campus, and most often they ask the “why aren’t we doing this?” question.

Therefore, students are important members of all college sustainability initiatives, by serving on the Master Planning and Leadership Committees and by working closely with the sustainability coordinator, whether by work-study hours or for volunteer. They’ve wanted ownership over the college’s sustainable goals ever since we first started thinking about sustainability.