For fourth year in a row, Rice improves sustainability

By Jocelyn Wright     10/8/09 7:00pm

Rice ranks first in Texas for sustainability for the second year in a row, according to the Green Report Card, a measure released annually by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. Rice was also designated a campus sustainability leader, Communications Fellow for the SEI Cameron Bruns said. Rice received a B on the Green Report Card, the highest score it has received over the past four years, Director of Sustainability Richard Johnson (Will Rice '92) said.

"Four years ago we received a C-minus, the next year a C-plus, last year a B-minus, and this year a B, so I like the trajectory we're on," Johnson said.

Johnson credits Rice's commitment to green building as a major factor behind the rising grade. All new buildings on campus are required to meet at least Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design silver requirements.

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"In a matter of just a few years, Rice has become a leader in this area with over a million square feet of construction and renovations that will receive some level of certification under the LEED system," Johnson said.

Increased student involvement and interest in green initiatives, such the trayless dining that was instituted last spring, has also improved Rice's environmental performance, Johnson said.

"Part of the increase in our grade is due to the continued engagement by the students and their genuine participation and partnership," he said.

Johnson said Charles (Baker '70) and Anne Duncan's donation for Duncan College to become the university's first LEED gold-certified building in 2007 was a "watershed moment" that jump-started environmental momentum on campus.

"It's as if there was sustainability at Rice before the Duncan gift and then after the Duncan gift - sort of like a B.C. and an A.D.," Johnson said. "It demonstrates [how] the power [of] a significant gift, especially from an alumnus, can accelerate the campus sustainability initiatives and bring attention to them."

The grade is an average of the university's scores in the following categories: Administration, Climate Change and Energy, Food and Recycling, Green Building, Student I nv o l v eme n t , Transportation, E n d o w m e n t Transparency, I n v e s t m e n t Priorities and S h a r e h o l d e r Engage m e n t . These scores were determined by four surveys the SEI sent Rice, which were completed by Johnson, Director of Residential Dining David McDonald, Rice Student Green Building Initiative President Alex Tseng and Vice President for Investments and Treasurer Scott Wise.

For the first time in the four years the survey has been conducted, 32 opt-in schools were surveyed along with the 300 schools with the largest endowments, which are surveyed annually, Bruns said. Although schools with larger endowments tended to be ranked highest in the survey, Bruns said three schools with smaller endowments that opted in were among the 26 schools who received an A-minus, the highest grade given this year.

"While the endowment is definitely a factor, and it can in some cases make projects and funding easier, it's not necessarily the case all the time," Bruns said. "We got quite a variety of public and private schools and small and large schools in the A-minus range."

While Johnson said he is pleased by Rice's continued progress in the SEI's rankings, he cautioned students against taking the results too seriously.

"I tend not to put too much weight in these kinds of surveys," Johnson said. "There are a bunch of them out there and their results often vary significantly."

For instance, Johnson said last year Sierra Magazine ranked the College of William and Mary on its list of five worst schools for sustainability, but that the school this year received a B, the same grade as Rice, on its Green Report Card.

Johnson also pointed out that Rice's endowment counted for one-third of its Green Report Card score.

"If you asked me to grade a university's sustainability performance, the endowment would not be on my list of the top nine categories, but that's just [the SEI's] particular slant," Johnson said.

Johnson said he was working with others in his professional organi zat ion, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability and Higher Education, to create a more reliable system of rankings called the Sustainab i l i t y Tracking Assessment and Ratings System.

"We've designed STARS so that it's both thorough and t ransparent , " Johnson said. "We hope that it will ultimately replace the hodgepodge of green campus surveys and rankings that are out there today, because there are literally a dozen of them."

Johnson said he is currently collaborating with an undergraduate to conduct a sustainability assessment of Rice using STARS.

To improve Rice's grade for next year, Bruns recommended going through the survey data, which is available at www.greenreportcard.org, and looking for areas where Rice can improve, such as implementing a compositing program or removing disposable dishware from the serveries.

In the future, Johnson said he would also like to see a broader selection of environmental course offerings.

"It sounds like the students are really pleased [with the Energy and Water Sustainability Minor] and there's probably quite a bit of demand out there for more sustainability-related courses, majors, and minors," Johnson said.

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