Georgia Institute of Technology

College Sustainability Report Card 2010

The Office of Environmental Stewardship, established in 2007, coordinates with energy reduction management engineers, a LEED-accredited green building director, an alternative transportation manager, and a recycling manager. Georgia Tech has multiple advisory councils. The Sustainability Planning Committee reports to the president and has helped initiate a dorm energy competition, sustainable food purchasing, and a green building policy. The institute has had an office dedicated to sustainability since 1992.

Georgia Tech is committed to reducing its energy use per square foot to 15 percent below 2007 levels by 2020. Energy efficiency retrofits have helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 12 percent since 1998. Temperature setbacks are implemented across campus and preventative maintenance includes regular system tune-ups. Georgia Tech heats its swimming pool with solar thermal energy. Solar photovoltaics on campus have produced 3,355 megawatt-hours of energy since 1996.

Georgia Tech spends 40 percent of its food budget on local foods. Dining services composts all pre- and postconsumer food scraps and uses only reusable and compostable materials in its dining halls. Vegan options are available at every meal in most campus dining locations. Excess food is donated to the Atlanta Food Bank.

All faucets, showerheads, and toilets on campus are low-flow. Campus policy specifies that all new buildings and renovations will meet or exceed LEED Silver standards. Six historic buildings on campus have been renovated to meet LEED Silver standards, and one building is pending LEED-EB certification. The campus's first green roof is currently under construction and the institute's first carbon neutral building has been designed.

Numerous student organizations, including Students Organizing for Sustainability (SOS), promote sustainability initiatives on campus. SOS facilitated a bike rental program, a zero-waste dining program, and a ban on disposable water bottles at green events. Sustainability is integrated into new-student orientation and a dorm energy competition is run through the Residence Hall Association. Students run a community-supported agriculture program on campus.

Electric vehicles comprise 14 percent of the motor pool. A total of 27 percent of campus vehicles use alternative fuels. Georgia Tech operates its own free transportation on campus that connects to Atlanta's mass transit system. The school offers a 44 percent discount on parking permits for carpools and subsidizes transit passes for students, faculty, and staff.

Georgia Tech makes neither a list of endowment holdings nor its shareholder voting record public.

Georgia Tech aims to optimize investment return and is currently invested in renewable energy funds, community development loan funds, and on-campus sustainability projects through the endowment.

Georgia Tech asks that its investment managers handle the details of proxy voting.