Lehigh’s institutional operations impact the everyday lives of the university’s students, faculty and staff. By taking action to increase sustainability in operations, Lehigh will increase the overall well-being of the university and its community as a whole.
GOALS FOR 2020
AIR & CLIMATE
•Reduce emissions by 25% over 2007 baseline.
BUILDINGS
• Create sustainable buildings operations and maintenance guidelines or policy.
• Establish sustainable building design and construction guidelines or policy to LEED Silver or equivalent standards.
DINING SERVICES
• Achieve 20% of food aligning with 1 or more of 4 categories (local, humane, fair trade, organic) by 2020.
• Offer complete protein vegan meal options at dining locations on campus.
ENERGY
• Create an energy management plan that addresses campus growth and building needs, energy efficiency retrofits, behavior change opportunities and future reduction targets that reduces energy use per sq ft by 25% over 2007 baseline.
GROUNDS
• Conduct an assessment to identify vulnerable species and environmentally sensitive land on institution owned or managed land.
• Identify and implement native plant standards to replace non-native species to support wildlife habitats.
• Manage grounds in accordance with an Integrated Pest Management Plan, sustainable landscape management program and/or organic/certified/protected.
PURCHASING
• Move to purchasing Green Seal and/or UL Environment (EcoLogo) certified cleaning and janitorial products for all buildings.
• Create an institution-wide stated intent to support disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises, and/or local community-based businesses.
• Employ life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) to evaluate energy and water life cycle using products, systems and building components.
• Update policies to require that vendors and contractors to adhere to minimum environmental standards defined by the institution, and minimum standards governing employee wage, benefits, working condition and rights that are consistent with the International Labor Organization conventions.
TRANSPORTATION
• Optimize fuel efficiency and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions of our vehicles and bus services by optimizing bus routes and developing a plan for vehicle and bus replacement.
• Increase by 10% the number of employees that use one or more of the following options as their primary means of transportation to and from campus: carpooling, walk, bike, public transportation or telecommute.
WASTE
• Create and implement a waste management plan to minimize waste generated on campus by 10% over 2010 baseline.
• Increase recyclables by 10% over 2012 baseline.
• Divert all food waste from trash stream.
WATER
• Identify green infrastructure and low impact development (LID) practices to help mitigate stormwater run-off impacts and treat rainwater as a resource rather than as a waste product.
MAKING AN IMPACT
