UD SUSTAINABLE OPERATIONS
INVESTMENTS AND PURCHASING

Not only are there enrollment and public relations benefits to operating sustainably, but there are also financial benefits. One of the main tenets of sustainability is efficiency, which leads to financial savings through reduced energy consumption, water usage, and material waste.

The financial benefits of a sustainable campus are compounding and complex in nature, so it is difficult for any university to truly capture all of the revenue and savings generated from sustainability initiatives and entities. However, an examination of case studies of sustainability projects at other universities makes it clear that Offices of Sustainability provide significant financial asset through ensuring operational efficiency and coordination of all UD-wide sustainability projects and plans. As an example, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln reported saving $200,000 in one year just from installing data-driven sensors in their HVAC system to detect breakdowns; Boston College generated energy savings of $650,000 after improving energy performance and operational practices; The University of California-Berkeley established stronger waste initiatives after they realized that recycling saved them $151.47 per ton of trash.

Additionally, It is essential that Endowment funding and Alumni fund-raising targets be set to enable the proper infrastructure investments for a sustainable University of Delaware future.  Comparator institutions are recognizing the long and well-established fact that the burning of fossil fuels is the primary driver of human-caused climate change. Maintaining institutional investments in the fossil fuel industry runs counter to every other effort the University is making to reduce the dangers associated with rising global temperatures. The University of Delaware has begun fossil fuel divestment to reduce risk in a changing global climate.  Becoming a sustainability-driven institution will not only entail carbon and waste reduction, but it will also require the university to divest from environmentally harmful ventures and reallocate these resources to green innovation.