Table of Contents

1. Adopt the 2030 Challenge High Performance Building Standard as Part of Your Climate Action Plan
2. Community Colleges 'Pivotal' in Preparing a Green Workforce
3. Eleven Million Reasons to Sign the ACUPCC
4. RMI Workshop Convened to Brainstorm Solutions to the Most Common CAP Barriers

Adopt the 2030 Challenge High Performance Building Standard as Part of Your Climate Action Plan

Energy Rose for a 2030 Challenge Residence Hall at the University of Washington

Energy efficient buildings can be designed, built or renovated to use less than half of their present operational energy while maintaining high quality, health, and comfort. This can be done without significant capital investment costs. In order to significantly reduce our future carbon footprint in campus construction, it is necessary to provide a very strong focus on energy efficient buildings. The Architecture 2030 organization has created the 2030 Challenge that provides the framework for producing energy efficient buildings now and carbon neutral buildings by 2030. Adopting the 2030 Challenge will provide multiple tangible benefits to your institution: reductions in energy cost, reductions in carbon emissions, increased energy security, and a more resilient institution, all very tangible results for University leadership and the campus community. Read More...

Community Colleges 'Pivotal' in Preparing a Green Workforce

Thousands of workers will be needed to fill the "green" jobs that are being created as environmentally friendly technologies‚ public policies‚ and public-private investments move the United States toward a low-carbon future. According to a new report from the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and the National Council on Workforce Education‚ community colleges are in a pivotal position to prepare this green workforce. "Going Green: The Vital Role of Community Colleges in Building a Sustainable Future and a Green Workforce" details the ways in which more than two dozen community colleges prepare workers for new, reoriented, or emerging jobs in the clean-energy economy and outlines six action steps that community colleges can take to play a leading role in creating a sustainable future and green workforce... Read more.

Eleven Million Reasons to Sign the ACUPCC

Less than one-third of the 645 colleges and universities that have signed the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) are two-year institutions. It is an interesting number when you consider that according to the American Association of Community Colleges, the nation's 1,173 two-year community and technical colleges enroll more than 11 million students annually. For Joliet Junior College in Joliet, IL, joining the climate commitment wasn't the beginning; it was a reaffirmation of a responsibility to the environment that students, faculty, staff and alumni have pledged for many decades... Read more.

RMI Workshop Convened to Brainstorm Solutions to the Most Common CAP Barriers

In early June, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and AASHE convened a collaborative workshop in Denver, Colorado where twelve schools and external experts worked together to address common obstacles to campus climate-change mitigation. The central purpose of the workshop was to collaboratively brainstorm realistic solutions to typical problems that come up in the course of campus climate action planning and implementation. The ideas generated through this process will be incorporated into a web-based practical research report, Accelerating Campus Climate-Change Initiatives, that RMI and AASHE will release later this summer... Read more.