The National Weather Service has issued a cold weather advisory until noon Saturday for wind chills as low as nine below zero. As cold weather persists, the University wants to remind our community about tips for protecting yourself, your residences and your property, plus dealing with winter weather. These will be posted on UD's emergency preparedness and response page, along with updates on weather alerts, event cancellations and building closures.

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Sustainability at UD

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50+ Campus Operations Sustainability Goals

The University of Dayton Office of Energy and Sustainability, working alongside leadership from the Hanley Sustainability Institute and 41 campus partners, created more than 50 sustainability-related goals in campus operational areas — food and dining, fleet and transportation, procurement and waste, water, energy and buildings and grounds.

Building on UD's strong foundation as an AASHE STARS gold-rated campus, a leader in the Laudato Si Action initiative, and our Catholic, Marianist tradition, the goal-setting process was designed to inspire and engage action, establish clear commitments and identify resource needs.

Buildings

Design and construct high-performance buildings
Design and construct high-performance buildings
BLD1 By 2025, evaluate and update selection of a building design and construction rating system(s), no less than LEED Silver equivalent, to use for 100% of UD's new building construction and for renovation projects over $2 Million (2022 dollars) where the rating system can be applied and the cost to certify the project is no more than 2% of the construction budget.
BLD2 By 2029, certify 1 new building or major renovation to the highest achievable level under a green building rating system (e.g. LEED Platinum).

Operate and maintain high-performance, low-impact buildings
Operate and maintain high-performance, low-impact buildings
BLD3 By 2025, define and implement high-performance standards and protocols for building maintenance and operations (eg cleaning; energy performance; waste and water practices).
BLD4 By 2025, evaluate the feasibility of, and pilot, a green lab program that addresses energy and water conservation, chemical use and disposal, materials management, and sustainable practices training.
BLD5 By 2025, evaluate and adjust as needed staffing and resource needs for regularly aggregating and reporting building design, construction, operations, and maintenance performance data.
BLD6 By 2026, assess feasibility, benefits, requirements, and costs of implementing practices for improving student neighborhood residential energy use efficiency and building performance.
Dining

Increase food recovery; reduce food waste
Increase food recovery; reduce food waste
DIN1 By 2027, achieve zero food waste from pre-consumer production by maximizing food recovery and composting.
DIN1a By 2025, complete food waste and surplus food audits in all dining and catering facilities.
DIN1b By 2025, identify new opportunities for maximizing food recovery.
DIN1c Annually, or as needed, conduct food safety training for food recovery volunteers and staff.

Support procurement for the Common Good
Support procurement for the Common Good
DIN2 Within 3 years, increase spend on local, small, and underrepresented vendors by 40% from a 2022 baseline.
DIN2a By 2025, complete a food spend analysis on "procurement for the common good" categories of vendors to set baseline.
DIN2b By 2025, identify opportunities for increasing local, small, and underrepresented vendor spend. (eg, amend RFPs for distributors to include preferences regarding supplier traceability and sourcing flexibility).
DIN3 Annually increase UD's spend on locally produced food.
DIN3a By 2025, in partnership with vendors and distributors, improve tracking and reporting of spend on local food purchases.
DIN3b By 2025, complete spend analysis of locally purchased foods.
DIN3c By 2026, with campus partners, identify opportunities for a centralized distribution hub that simplifies logistics for purchasing and receiving local products.
DIN4 Within 5 years, increase UD's spend on plant-based foods by 45% from a 2022 baseline.
DIN4a By 2025, in partnership with vendors and distributors, improve tracking of plant-based food purchases.
DIN4b By 2027, increase the number of plant-based offerings (entrees) by 30% from a 2022 baseline.

Provide sustainable dining opportunities
Provide sustainable dining opportunities
DIN5 Annually meet or exceed internally established benchmarks for sustainable dining operations, including efficiency, waste reduction, and responsible food choices.
DIN6 By 2025, annually inform all customers about low-impact food choices and sustainability practices through outreach and education such as labeling and signage in dining facilities and catering menus.
Energy

Increase building energy efficiency
Increase building energy efficiency
ENG1 By 2025, assess feasibility, benefits, requirements, and costs of implementing practices for optimizing building use schedules to improve building energy use efficiency.
ENG2 By 2026, decrease building energy use intensity by 25% from a 2018 baseline.
ENG3 Maintain building standards (design, new construction, renovation, operation) to meet or exceed current ASHRAE standards for energy efficiency.

Achieve carbon neutrality in scope 1 and 2 emissions
Achieve carbon neutrality in scope 1 and 2 emissions
ENG4 By 2035, reach carbon neutrality for scope 1 and 2 emissions. (electricity 71% = PPA; natural gas 28% = geothermal; fleet 1% = EV transition, see fleet goals)
ENG4a By 2025, sign a virtual power purchase agreement for 100% of campus imported electricity use from certified/verified clean and renewable sources.
ENG4b By 2028, demonstrate opportunities for cost savings and emissions reductions by installation of a single- or multi-building geothermal system.
ENG4c Depending on the success of the pilot geothermal system, by 2030, design and secure funding for campus-wide geothermal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on on-campus stationary fuels.
ENG5 Annually inventory and report Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions (main campus, student neighborhood, major accounts, fleet).
Fleet

Reduce fleet emissions
Reduce fleet emissions
FLT1 By 2031, reduce fleet carbon emissions by 50% from a 2018 baseline (eg.. fewer vehicles; improved efficiency; electrification; fewer miles).
FLT1a By 2025 assess the current campus fleet in order to right-size the fleet and implement fleet management best practices (e.g. total number of vehicles, type, and business use).
FLT1b By 2026, develop a vehicle purchase strategy or guideline for all UD-owned vehicle purchases that supports carbon neutrality goals.
FLT1c By 2026, work with fleet managers to pilot innovative approaches to reduce carbon emissions. (EV use; reduce idle time; materials/tools storage and workspace alternatives).
FLT2 By 2025, assess feasibility of infrastructure that supports fleet electrification. (cost, maintenance, location/space, facilities, federal funding)
FLT3 By 2029, secure funding and approval to develop electrification infrastructure in support of 50% reduction in fleet's carbon emissions (e.g. charging for plug-in hybrid or zero emissions vehicles).
FLT4 Annually track, assess and report carbon emissions to fleet managers, campus leadership, and partners.
Grounds

Support low-impact development / green infrastructure
Support low-impact development / green infrastructure
GRD1 By 2026, to support ecological stewardship of campus, complete and present to campus a study of local stormwater management policy and regulations, profile of campus stakeholders, and characterization of campus rainwater impacts.
GRD2 By 2026, develop site appropriate rainwater/stormwater management plans or guidelines by campus zone that include green infrastructure and low impact development best practices for planning and new construction (zones eg: Old River Park; academic quad; student neighborhoods; campus west)
GRD3 By 2028, building on prior hands-on learning projects, demonstrate potential for innovative, impactful green infrastructure by implementing, monitoring, and tracking performance of at least one campus-as-lab rainwater management project that measurably improves stormwater quality.

Integrate ecological stewardship
Integrate ecological stewardship
GRD4 By 2026, develop and integrate guidance for evaluating green space and ecological stewardship in campus land use decisions.
GRD5 Annually keep equivalent or increase current acreage designated as pollinator habitat and natural areas. Current areas include pollinator habitat at Curran Place solar prairie, radio tower hill, Science Center hillside, Merkle, Adele, and Art Street; and natural areas at the environmental research area and peripheral areas of Old River Park.
GRD6 Annually support campus landscape values by keeping equivalent or increasing total campus tree canopy extent (main campus and student neighborhood).
GRD7 Annually maintain Bee Campus, Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative, or other similar ecologically managed grounds certifications.
GRD8 Annually maintain a list of all synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides used on campus.
Investing

Increase green revolving fund use and reporting
Increase green revolving fund use and reporting
INV1 By partnering with the Hanley Sustainability Institute and the Office of Energy and Sustainability, the FAS division will increase applications to the GRF by 25% By 2026 to advance community resilience and adoption of resource conservation strategies.
INV2 The GRF committee will prepare an annual report for the FAS division and other campus partners of projects funded, cost savings, and resources conserved.

Align investment strategies with sustainability goals
Align investment strategies with sustainability goals
INV3 Beginning in 2023, the investment committee of the Board of Trustees (BOT) will review the Long Term Investment Pool (LTIP) policy every 2 years.
INV4 Annually, FAS will engage the investment committee of the BOT on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments through focused discussions with the Outside Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) and outside investment managers.

Align on-campus investing with sustainability goals
Align on-campus investing with sustainability goals
INV5 By 2025, in partnership with HSI and the School of Business, the treasurer's office will assist in identifying investment criteria for on-campus sustainability-focused investment (e.g. Hanley sustainability fund; Hanley trading center) that align with University sustainability commitments.
Procurement

Streamline property management stewardship and reuse
Streamline property management stewardship and reuse
PRC1 By 2025, improve tracking and efficiency of equipment disposal and property management by centralizing, consolidating, and automating routing of equipment disposal forms.
PRC2 By 2025, pilot an internal surplus platform that annually increases the repurposing and reuse of furniture, equipment, other durable goods, and supplies for reuse on campus or other venues.
PRC3 By 2027, integrate campus-wide property management systems to improve stewardship of university property assets and allow for analyzing and streamlining business processes for property management systems.

Integrate sustainability into procurement systems
Integrate sustainability into procurement systems
PRC4 By 2025, provide total cost of ownership training to leadership councils, new leaders, buyers, and other units as appropriate.
PRC5 By 2025, update the Procurement and Payable policy to reflect campus social and environmental sustainability values such as increasing diversity spend and reducing environmental impacts of purchases.
PRC6 By 2027, increase to at least 20% the total annual influenceable contract spend that is with vendors meeting social considerations. (MWBE, SBE, local)
PRC7 By 2027, implement a process for identifying supplier sustainability considerations in supplier relationship management.

Reduce impact of purchasing choices
Reduce impact of purchasing choices
PRC8 By 2025, include sustainability attributes and guidelines within the "How to Buy" website for at least the top 50% of product categories by annual spend.
PRC9 Annually track spend in key product categories (e.g. STARS reporting: furniture, paper, electronics, cleaning and janitorial supplies).
PRC10 Annually maintain Fair Trade University status.
Transportation

Increase coordination for sustainable transportation solutions
Increase coordination for sustainable transportation solutions
TRN1 By 2025, recognizing that current transportation solutions are designed and implemented by multiple units across campus without central coordination, assess and implement a mode for coordinating shared mobility and active transportation stakeholders in decision-making and integration into campus planning.

Increase student use of sustainable transportation options
Increase student use of sustainable transportation options
TRN2 By 2026, complete a detailed assessment of student transportation and commuting behavior, including use of single-occupancy vehicles, bikes, bike share programs, and inter-campus shuttle services.
TRN3 By 2027, to support the reduction of scope 3 student emissions and increase by 30% the number of student trips using active and shared mobility transportation for inter-campus and community travel, develop and pilot communication and other strategies supporting the use of shared mobility and active transportation options (eg Flyer, RTA, campus shuttle, Link Bikes, Rec bikes, etc).

Reduce employee transportation emissions
Reduce employee transportation emissions
TRN4 By 2026, complete a detailed assessment of employee commuting behavior and decisions.
TRN5 By 2026, assess and present to campus the feasibility, benefits, and costs of implementing campus standards that support increasing active commuting and use of shared mobility.
TRN6 By 2026, to support the reduction of scope 3 emissions and increase by 30% the number of employee trips using active and shared mobility transportation for inter-campus travel and commuting, pilot and monitor the effectiveness of an impactful private or public partnership, incentive program, and/or information tool to increase the use of ridesharing and other commuting options (e.g. MVRPC commute program; HR Wellness health activity tracker; mobile and social applications that promote alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle use).
Waste

Reduce waste tonnage and increase diversion rates
Reduce waste tonnage and increase diversion rates
WST1 Annually decrease campus waste tonnage by ensuring that waste infrastructure supports waste reduction (vendor contracts; janitorial contracts; bin design and placement; behavior change efforts/education).
WST2 Annually conduct waste audits to characterize waste stream and support continual reduction in campus waste tonnage.
WST3 By 2025, incorporate support for waste reduction and diversion goals into design of interior and exterior waste collection spaces by piloting a best practices questionnaire for facilities project teams, stakeholders, and design professionals.
WST4 By 2029, decrease campus post-consumer landfilled food waste by 50% (down from estimated 12%) by piloting composting initiatives for student residences and offices.
WST5 By 2031, achieve the highest rating in a waste management and reduction third-party certification platform (e.g. PLAN Atlas, TRUE/LEED).

Improve waste data tracking
Improve waste data tracking
WST6 By 2025, require tracking and reporting of waste tonnage for all campus construction and demolition projects.
WST7 By 2026, support the current high rate of electronics recycling and reuse by implementing an improved tracking process for all outbound UD technology equipment.
WST8 By 2026, update our waste hauling contract to include improved waste tonnage reporting accuracy and frequency.
Water

Improve water use efficiency/intensity
Improve water use efficiency/intensity
WTR1 By 2025, to improve tracking of potable water use and leak detection, assess feasibility, benefits, requirements, and costs of installing or upgrading sub-meters on all campus buildings (main campus, student neighborhood, campus west)
WTR2 By 2028, use building-level water data to inform strategies for no net campus increase in potable water use (metric: water use per total building gross square footage).
WTR3 By 2028, demonstrate potential for innovative, impactful potable water reuse by implementing, monitoring, and tracking performance of at least one campus-as-lab reuse project that measurably reduces potable water use.
Contact Office of Energy and Sustainability
300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469 - 2904
email