Florida State University

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

The Sustainable Campus Committee is a grassroots organization founded by concerned faculty, staff, and students that is working to raise awareness and bring about sustainability on the FSU campus. They will host the Second Annual Campus and Community Sustainability Conference in October 2007. The student Environmental Club also works on various sustainability initiatives.

FSU recently entered into a contract to audit their usage and make energy-efficiency improvements such as upgrading light fixtures. The FSU Energy Conservation Initiative is a research group of 42 faculty and staff that researches various renewable energy options. A graduate student is completing a carbon emissions inventory for the university.

Food waste is composted and the recycling program includes glass, aluminum, plastic, paper, cardboard, and electronics. The university’s dining services does not offer any notable amount of local or organic foods.

The new Off-Grid Zero Emission Building (OGZEB) is completely solar-powered, with excess electricity being used to produce hydrogen for energy storage. The OGZEB will make use of hydrogen appliances and feature high-efficiency water and electrical systems, and is designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. A new materials research building, scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2008 will be LEED-certified. New construction is designed with LEED points in mind.

FSU students can ride buses for free and efforts have been made to improve bike paths. The hope is to eventually change the culture of the university to be conducive to responsible transportation choices.

The university and the Florida State University Foundation have no known policy of disclosure of endowment holdings or its shareholder voting record. Therefore, there is no known ability to access this information.

The university and the Florida State University Foundation aim to optimize investment return and have not made any public statements about investigating or investing in renewable energy funds or community development loan funds.

The university and the Florida State University Foundation have not made any public statements about active ownership or a proxy voting policy.