BU Sustainability Milestones
16 years after its founding, celebrating success in mix of projects large and small
Workers installing solar modules on top of 25 Buick Street. Photos courtesy of BU Sustainability
BU Sustainability Milestones
16 years after its founding, celebrating success in mix of projects large and small
Did you know that Boston University’s first LEED-certified space was a study center in Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences? Or that BU helped build a wind farm in South Dakota? (Yes, really!)
It’s all thanks to the efforts of BU Sustainability.
Originally known as sustainability@BU, the office launched in 2009, a year after Robert A. Brown, then BU’s president, announced the creation of a University-wide office that would work to reduce BU’s environmental footprint. Now, 15 years later, the department’s successes comprise a mix of projects big and small, from supplying the campus with reusable shopping bags and water bottles to helping implement the cutting-edge geothermal heating and cooling system at the Center for Computing & Data Sciences.
BU Sustainability is a key player in multiple BU initiatives, including the Zero Waste Plan and the Climate Action Plan. It has partners across the University: Transportation Services, Dining Services, Facilities Management & Operations, Residence Life, and schools and colleges included.
“It’s important to note that while something might start out in our office, all the progress we’ve made is the result of [institutional buy-in],” says Dennis Carlberg, associate vice president for climate action and chief sustainability officer. “When you integrate sustainability into the operations of the University, we as a community make progress—not just BU Sustainability. That’s the philosophy behind everything we do.”
Read on to learn more about some of BU Sustainability’s accomplishments and highlights over the past few years.
Awards and certifications
- In August of this year, three BU Sustainability partners and students took home MassRecycle Awards in the Outstanding University category. The awards are given to individuals at a college or university who develop or operate an exemplary waste-reduction program. Lexie Raczka, BU Dining Services sustainability director, and a team of students involved with Move-out won for their work on BU Sustainability’s Choose to Reuse and Goodwill, Not Landfill programs, respectively.
- As of 2024, BU has 25 LEED-certified projects, totaling 1.84 million square feet of space throughout its campuses. The spaces include the ninth floor of Kilachand Honors College, the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, the Center for Anxiety & Related Disorders, the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground, and WBUR CitySpace. The CDS building is the first BU building to receive platinum certification.
- Approximately 11 departments around BU are now Green Department Certified. The BU Sustainability designation is based on LEED criteria and recognizes the sustainability efforts departments or offices have implemented into their daily operations, such as more-efficient energy use. Departments can receive silver, gold, or platinum status.
Recycling and waste reduction
- Choose to Reuse, the Dining Services reusable to-go container program, issued its 100,000th container in its first year alone. According to this video from Dining Services, if you stacked all of those containers on top of one another, they would reach the same height as Boston’s Prudential Center—a staggering 33 times. The program aims to reduce the use of disposable plastic containers when students order food to go from vendors like Bay State Underground and those at the GSU Food Hall. Students return the reusable container to bins located throughout campus. Since launching in February 2023, Choose to Reuse has reduced single-use container waste by more than 78 percent, according to Dining Services estimates.
- Fiscal Year 2024 saw BU increase its waste diversion rate to 52 percent, a massive jump from 3 percent in 2006, the first year the rate was measured. In the same period, the rate of recycling and composting increased by a staggering 716 percent. Helping contribute to the numbers? Scores of recycling stations located throughout BU’s campuses, including 30-plus battery-recycling stations. (Find them on this map.)
- The Goodwill, Not Landfill program, a partnership that lets students place unwanted items in Goodwill donation bins in all large residence halls during Move-out, diverted approximately 113 tons of material away from landfills during the spring 2024 Move-out. Since its inception in 2009, BU Sustainability says, the program has kept more than 1,000 tons of material out of landfills. The program was featured in a segment on local news station WCVB in August.
Renewable energy
- In addition to being LEED platinum-certified, the Center for Computing & Data Sciences building, completed in 2023, is the largest carbon-neutral, fossil fuel–free building in the city of Boston. Every aspect of the building was designed with efficiency in mind, from the triple-glazed windows all the way down to the trash cans. The building was named the 2023 Climate Project of the Year by the Environmental Business Council of New England.
- Starting in 2020, BU is matching all of its electricity demand in Boston with wind power generated at a BU-sponsored South Dakota wind farm. The BU Wind project single-handedly reduces BU’s carbon emissions by 53 percent. Not only does this clean energy help decarbonize the region’s energy grid, but it puts BU within spitting distance of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040, a goal articulated in the Climate Action Plan. (Learn more about this wind farm and energy matching here.)
- BU has just over 2,000 solar modules installed throughout the Charles River Campus. The modules produce 1.1 million kilowatt hours of energy a year. According to BU Sustainability, the solar installations are intended to support the local renewable energy economy, provide educational and research opportunities for students, and increase the visibility of climate action work at BU.
- BU currently has 12 electric vehicles in its fleet, with plans to add more as current vehicles need replacing. The EV fleet includes the ice resurfacers at Agganis Arena, cargo vans for Mail Services, sedans for BU departments, and a new Boston University Police Department car. There are also 40 EV charging stations for use by the community located throughout BU’s campuses.
The extras
- In October, the Center for Computing & Data Sciences building—and all of its green features—was the subject of an episode of the Smithsonian Channel’s How Did They Build That? Stream the episode on Apple TV and other platforms.
Want to get involved with BU Sustainability? Sign up to be a Sustainability Liaison, and learn more about the department’s work here.
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