Princeton University Office of Sustainability

3rd Annual Sustainability Report Demonstrates Strong Trends

The 2011 Sustainability Report, after 3 years of performance tracking, reports strong positive trends across a number of performance areas, including carbon dioxide emissions reduction. This new report also kicks off a new phase in Sustainability Plan implementation with accelerated efforts to bridge areas of operations and academics in sustainability problem-solving. This "campus as living laboratory" approach successfully integrates the Plan with the University's teaching, research and civic engagement activities.

The report, prepared over the summer and fall of 2011, also looks ahead to short-term and long-term goals.  Visit the full report, download the full report PDF, or the highlights brochure PDF. 

Congratulations to the Fall 2011 High Meadows Foundation grant winners:

• Bee Team/Outdoor Action Project Expansion. Sarah Bluher ’13 and Hannah Safford ’13 
• Student Garden Project at Forbes College, 2012 summer internship support. Sarah Simon ’13
• Collective Motion 2.0 Developing Empowered Communities. Engineers Without Borders, P-UNICEF, Princetonians for Health Care Reform
• Bioremediation of Plastic Waste. Wole Soboyejo, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, and Karen Malatesta 
• Senior Thesis: Producing and Characterizing Biothanol from (non-food) Cellulosic Biomass. Amanda Rees ’12
• Spring ’12 FRS 142:  Princeton’s Ecological Footprint - Using the Campus as a Living Laboratory for Sustainability. Supplemental field trip support. Shana Weber, Office of Sustainability

Integrated Landscape and Stormwater Strategies Seminar a Success

On November 4th, the Facilities organization hosted a full day seminar with presentations by leading experts in the field of integrated landscape design and stormwater management.  Case studies were presented by Princeton University, the Willow School, Villanova University and Rutgers University.  There were also tours of recently completed campus projects which offered the opportunity to earn AIA (American Institute of Architects) and ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects) continuing education credits. In addition, certification for USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) and GBCI (Green Building Certification Institute) credits is pending. Over 100 attendees participated from the region.                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                              Butler College Green Roof

For PowerPoint Presentation:               

OfficeMax Pilot to Reduce Impact with 4-day Delivery Schedule

The University offices at 701 Carnegie Center are piloting a reduced, four-day delivery schedule with OfficeMax. The new delivery schedule, which began the week of November 7, 2011, will provide normal deliveries Monday through Thursday, but will eliminate deliveries (except for emergencies) on Fridays. 

By eliminating Friday deliveries, the University will reduce vehicular traffic on campus, thereby reducing our carbon footprint by an estimated 5,051 pounds, or over 2.5 tons annually.  It is anticipated OfficeMax will reduce their operating costs, which will result in cost savings for the University.

If effective, a proposal to expand the program campus-wide will be brought to the Princeton Sustainability Committee (PSC).

Pen Recycling Pilot Successful - Ready for Rollout!

Each year, millions of writing instruments are needlessly discarded and end up in landfills.  The eco-friendly company TerraCycle ®  creates a second life for writing instruments.  Pens are collected and sent to Terracycle and then upcycled or recycled into various products.

The Office of Finance & Treasury began recycling pens earlier this fall as a pilot program, anticipating a campus-wide rollout.

The following types of writing instruments can be recycled: pens, highlighters, and permanent markers.  For each pen collected, Terracycle will contribute .02 cents to a charity of choice.

If your department would like to participate in this program please contact Judy Schedneck (jschedne@)

Drink Local Campaign Partnering with U-Store

With so much interest in our Drink Local water bottles, we are happy to announce that they are now available for sale at both Nassau Street and University Place U-Store locations. Using a reusable water bottle quickly pays for itself compared the the cost of bottled water. You can fill up your reusable bottle at any one of our more than 150 'Drink Local' stations on campus.

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The Office of Sustainability Has Moved!

Please visit us as our new location at 106 Alexander, next to the Wawa.

ACADEMIC CORNER

Hosted by the Princeton Sustainability Committee and the Office of Sustainability

Students, faculty and staff convened to discuss use of the campus as a laboratory for sustainability solutions across a wide range of undergraduate and potentially graduate disciplines. Operational programs shared campus infrastructure-based opportunities that could benefit from study, followed by discussion with faculty and students to further develop a list of potential sustainability research topics that solve real problems in the local setting. The resulting list of research ideas using the campus as a laboratory is now available.

If you have interest in pursuing any of these ideas, or have additional ideas you would like to see added, please email shanaw@princeton.edu

The Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) has announced $1.1 million in new awards to support climate and energy research at Princeton University. The new endeavors will engage faculty investigators with expertise spanning nuclear energy policy, wind energy technology, carbon capture and sequestration, biofuels and air pollution, deforestation of tropical rainforests, and the global carbon cycle. 

For article:  http://www.princeton.edu/pei/news/archive/?id=5986