Texas A&M University

College Sustainability Report Card 2007

The University employs a staff in its Office of Energy Management, which works with the Energy Conservation Committee to look into energy savings on University campuses. The Office implements policies to reduce energy use and maintains an Energy Conservation Hotline to report waste.

The University has demonstrated a 25 percent increase in energy efficiency over the last 10 years. In September 2006, TAMU received recognition from the Texas Comptroller's State Energy Conservation Office recognizing the University for achieving excellent results to improve energy efficiency and air quality in the State of Texas. Facilities is implementing metering and monitoring projects to identify energy waste and lower energy use in buildings. Students are educated of their impact through the Energy Awareness Campaign and a pilot energy conservation competition will be conducted in the spring of 2007.

Plans are underway by dining services to purchase organic foods and open an organic farmers market in the University center area at the College Station campus. The department is currently working on developing a biodiesel program to use recycled cooking oil to power dining services’ delivery vehicles. The University recycles paper, cardboard, printer cartridges, and aluminum cans and is exploring the feasibility of expanding this program to other areas, including composting.

Building commissioning reduced energy use by 15 to 30 percent and saved $4 million during the 2005 fiscal year. The Corpus Christi campus is investigating LEED standards for its building projects. Lighting retrofits have been implemented in 42 of the College Station campus's 139 buildings and 32 buildings are scheduled for 2007.

The University makes its proxy voting record available only to trustees and senior administrators. Investment managers must be posted on the website per statute, while individual holdings are generally shared only within the treasurer’s office.

The University prioritizes investing to maximize profit and is also exploring renewable energy investment funds or similar investment vehicles.

The University asks that its investment managers handle the details of proxy voting.