Campus Greening: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Known globally for its School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (FES), Yale University has recently taken additional steps to incorporate the school’s sustainability ideals into campus life. In 2005, the university created the Yale Office of Sustainability and has also developed an overarching Sustainability Strategy that aims to educate the university community about consumption, energy use, and other lifestyle choices, and to institute change. In October 2005, Yale pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 through conservation and the use of renewable energy, making it one of the first universities in the United States to commit to a 15-year strategic energy plan.

The Yale Office of Sustainability houses a number of “sustainability committees,” including on energy, transportation policy, and building design and construction. According to the Office’s Fall 2006 newsletter, the university offset two-thirds of the electricity used in residential colleges during the 2005 academic year by purchasing 10,000 megawatt-hours of Renewable Energy Credits. The initiative was largely student driven. And by switching to a blend of 20 percent biodiesel (B20) and ultra-low-sulfur diesel, Yale has reduced transportation-based petroleum consumption by 20 percent, or 20,000 gallons (75,708 liters).

Yale also continues to pursue its interest in getting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for its buildings. Recent lab renovations at the Yale School of Medicine have provided a campus benchmark for green building certification, and the future FES Kroon Building, slated for completion in 2008, will use graywater recycling as well as east-west alignment to maximize sun exposure for solar heating.

—Alana Herro