KSU SUSTAINABILITY2015

• From 2012 - 2014 Kennesaw State University was among seven Georgia Colleges & Universities named in the “Green Colleges List” issued by the Princeton Review in partnership with the U. S. Green Building Council.

Facilities

• Prillaman Hall received the Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification, at the Gold level,

• KSU’s Social Sciences Building is Silver LEED certified and the Commons is Gold certified.

• The Science Laboratory Building is currently being reviewed for LEED certification as well.

Prillaman Hall

Science Lab Addition

Social Sciences & the “Spaceship Earth” Sculpture

The Commons Dining Hall

What is LEED?

• LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a third party certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000.

• The nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

• LEED certification offers third party validation of a project’s green features and verifies that the building is operating exactly the way it was designed to.

LEED Certification

• Building projects earn LEED certification and points for satisfying prerequisites within each of the LEED categories:

• Sustainable Sites (SS), Water Efficiency (WE), Energy and Atmosphere (EA), Materials and Resources (MR) and Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)

• The number of points the project earns determines the level of LEED Certification the project receives: – Certified: 40–49 points– Silver: 50–59 points– Gold: 60–79 points– Platinum: 80 points and above

• The KSU Commons Dining Hall is a nationally acclaimed model of sustainability

• It has energy and water-conserving features, all food wastes are composted, and oil waste is sold as a biodiesel source

KSU’s Farm-to-Campus(-to-Farm)

Program

KSU’s Farm-to-Campus ProgramAcres of organic farmland

AWARDS

Hydroponics (inside the Commons as well)

Sheepdogs to discourage coyotes (& herd goats)

1,000’s of truckloads of topsoil were needed

Farm-to-Campus Practices

• Composting• Vermiculture/Vermicomposting• Rainwater reclamation• Recycling program for glass, plastic, cardboard, metal

and aluminum cans, even used cooking oil for biodiesel conversion

• Aerobic Digester (that reduced the annual costs of composting by $29,000 and created a nutrient-rich water effluent to support the campus farms)

• Resulting in: Diversion of more than 43,800lbs of waste from landfill each month

KSU Farmers’ Market

KSU’s Farmers’ Market on the Campus Green

American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment

KSU has carried out 4 greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories – for fiscal years 2008, 2010, 2012, & 2014:

http://www.kennesaw.edu/sustainability

The FY 2014 inventory included data from the Marietta campus.

Scope 1 = on-campus emissions (mainly natural gas)

Scope 2 = electricity

Scope 3 = travel & (mainly) commuting

Energy-Saving Measures

• Combining Christmas & New Years campus shut-downs

• Adding Energy-efficient LEED buildings

• Setting thermostats @ 680 (winter) & 780 (summer)

• Motion-detector light controls

• Federal Stimulus funding awarded in 2010 have been used to increase energy efficiency in older buildings & to provide metering for most buildings.

“BOB” Shuttle Routes began in Spring, 2011

• routes to remote parking lots & campus buildings

• routes connecting nearby apartments

Zimride carpool system

• Select potential carpool participants using the social-network Zimride system:

https://web.kennesaw.edu/auxiliaryservices/content/student-carpooling

• Shuttles reduce traffic congestion & pollution caused by prolonged vehicle idling times

• KSU instituted a “No Idle” Policy in 2010

The Kennesaw campus is rapidly losing its natural areas, including a small forest that houses pink ladyslippers, a rare native orchid.

The Marietta Campus has natural areas that should be preserved.

Outdoor Gathering Places

Students have identified an area for creating a Bioswale to capture pollutants in campus storm water runoff

Recycling

• KSU uses a “single source” (materials can be mixed) recycling system

• KSU accepts paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, glass drink bottles, batteries, and plastics #s 1 - 7

Residence Halls

• The newer buildings on the North side of campus have energy and water conserving features

• Resident Assistants plan Sustainability Events (such as an “Earth Hour” celebration) on a regular basis